You don't exist
by Adri1577
Summary: Edward broke Bella's heart more than once, finally she being pregnant left him. She had twins and now after her death they come back to Forks and meet the past. Bella at first, then Edward. Mostly kids' POV. Complete
1. Never again

**This story is going to be about Bella's children but for now I wanted to add some pre-history so that it would be easier to understand kids' actions and reactions later.** **Don't worry, it will only take two chapters.**

**Disclaimer for this chapter and the rest of the story: ****I own nothing, the rightful owners do.**

**So this is a pre-history, part one.** **Enjoy.**

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**Once is an accident. Twice is a mistake. Anything more is a habit.

Never again. That's what I promised myself and this time I will stick to it.

Being hurt I can handle, but seeing my family hurt? You crossed the line.

My mom moved out of Forks when I was barely a baby. Sixteen years later I decided to give her freedom and come back to live with my dad. When I started going to local high school I fell in love with Edward Cullen and his adopted sister Alice became my best friend.

The first few months of our relationship were a bumpy ride. Each time I would think we were getting closer, he would push me away. When I learned about him being a vampire and made sure that it wasn't a problem with me, he seemed to relax a bit. Even after everything that happened with James we stayed close. That summer was the best I ever had.

Then my birthday came. And with it, a party. I was clumsy as usual and put everybody in danger. They all left after that. Almost five next months fell out of my life completely. It was as if they had never happened at all. My body lived on, but my mind was trapped in memories and excruciating pain. How ironic. After I almost killed myself, Alice came to ask for my help to save her brother. We went to Italy and when we came back Edward begged me to accept him back. He said he had made the worst mistake in his existence and I did think it was an accident. I forgave him.

A few weeks later during one of the many times I stayed at them Emmett almost crushed all my bones in one of his hugs. Edward got scared once again. They all left. But this time only for a few weeks. The weeks that never happened in my life. When they came back everything seemed to be normal again. We had our first and in the end the only night together. Once more I thought he understood that leaving me was a mistake. He just seemed a little distant from time to time.

Then he stopped showing me any kind of attention. They all acted as if I was a stranger. I couldn't understand that. After one of the weekends a new student Eva arrived. She was pretty, though unimaginably dumb. Edward started taking care after her. The first time I saw her, she was making out with him. That broke my heart, _yet again_. I started thinking he was making a joke of me, but I still loved him and couldn't help it.

At the beginning of the spring break I got into a car accident. They were all away, so they never found out. That day I lost my hearing. I had had a friend back in Phoenix who was deaf, so I knew ASL quite well and it used to be interesting for me to try and read people's lips. Interesting just became a necessity. Charlie handled it as well as he could, I kept talking so there wasn't much of a difference. I just became even quieter. When the school started again I was already quite good at reading lips and just kept my headphones on all the time. Teachers knew, but never told anyone and I was excused from P.E. Edward stayed close to Eva and that didn't help my mood at all. Even during the summer, they both took the same projects at school as I did. It only made things worse for me.

A few months after Eva came to Forks I felt different. I started feeling light-headed and nauseated. For the first time in months I grew on some weight. That could have meant only one thing.

_Flashback_

_It was lunch at school. Edward was walking to wait in line for food._

"_Edward! Wait!" I shouted and hurried to him. He looked annoyed._

"_What do you want, Bella? Haven't you heard me before that I want to have nothing in common with? Are you deaf? Oh, right. But you are!" He started laughing and most of the students joined in. "You wanna talk? But I don't. I wouldn't talk to you even if you were pregnant with my child!" He glared at me._

_End of flashback_

Then, suddenly the world stopped spinning. Getting hurt myself I could handle, but then I understood that he just felt pleasure in my pain and his new way to get that was hurting my family. Though I couldn't understand how he knew I was pregnant. Maybe my scent had changed to him… I didn't care at that moment. I wasn't going to let my children know their father as a player. Nobody would be better for them than this.

So I ran. I got home and called mom. I left Forks the same afternoon barely saying goodbye to Charlie never to see him again.

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**Thank you for reading. This is only the beginning. Review and tell me what you liked and what you didn't.**


	2. My angels

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**Finally, the second part of the pre-history. Enjoy.**

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When I left Forks I started a new life.

My mom, Phil and I moved to live in NY. I still had a few weeks till new school year. It was a hot summer and I had to wait for my mom in front of some fashion model agency. I was still slim and some guy came over me.

_Flashback_

"_Hello. My name is Zhan. You are a model but I can't remember your name." His last sentence was a statement and I couldn't suppress my smile. Me? A model? Was he blind? Though he didn't seem to be one. At that moment my mom came to my side and told him that I was deaf. I blushed._

"_Perfect. You don't even need a make-up." He said with a friendly smile. "Do you have plans for today or maybe you would give me a pleasure of taking a few photos of you?" He asked gently. His eyes were kind and excited._

_I glanced at my mom who just nodded slightly and turned back to Zhan. "I would love to." I smiled again._

"_Your voice is beautiful and smile is captivating. Follow me." Now he was truly excited. We entered the agency and walked past all the gorgeous models waiting for their auditions. He led us straight to a small and cozy studio. He took a few photos and all I had to do was smile. Then I was given some clothes to put on. I never thought I would, but I did like them. They looked perfect on me. I blushed a little when I saw myself in a mirror. I came back and Zhan was talking to mom. They were both smiling as if Christmas had come before time. Assistants blew some air at me to make my hair flowing. I smiled and when we were done with photos, I had to admit they were really great. _

_End of flashback_

I was offered a job as a model. They told me that even my pregnancy wouldn't be a problem. They were willing to do some shows at that time and then wait as long as it took for me to be ready to walk the catwalk again. I liked the idea. I was home schooled which was easier than I had thought it would be. And I became a model showing the fashion that I had always despised. I was carrying a child, had a job I loved and was living with my now-happy mother. I gained self-confidence, stopped being afraid of people, even my deafness was not as issue. During my pregnancy I gained so many friends from the fashion world that when the time came to spend more time at home and bed waiting for my children, I still had calls every few hours asking how I was.

And then the day came. Giving birth to my babies was harder than I had thought it would be. I almost died. But the outcome was amazing. I had never had a thought about having a baby before and now I had two. Twins. A boy and a girl.

Gediminas Jasner Swan was my first child. He looked so peaceful when he was born. Instead of crying he just yawned widely. My beauty was always sleepy in early mornings. I gave him the first name of Gediminas. It was different from the common ones around here, like he was. But I felt that somewhere else there had to be people like him. No matter how few, he was not alone. Maybe not exactly just like him, but other children who were unlike the rest of the world. Jasner was his second name. The moment when he was born, he didn't move or made a sound, but when I got worried, he gave me his yawn as if telling me that he was fine just wanted some sleep. I wanted to give him Jasper's name but it reminded me so much of them… I decided to go for it with a similar but not an exact one. Jasner.

Adrian Margarita Swan was born seven minutes later. She was completely opposite from her brother. The moment she was born, she showed us all her strong and beautiful voice making sure all the world knew she was here. My little Adri. Barely sleeping at all but always curious and eager to learn.

After the next two weeks they both looked like they were two months old. I needed money so that I could get everything the best they needed. I called back to the model agency not expecting anything and they told me that I was welcome to resume my work. Travelling came with the job. But I couldn't leave my babies alone so I took them with me.

I remember it was my first time in Europe and we were doing some photo sessions in London. The three of us were staying in a little house and just before leaving I remembered I had no one to leave with my darlings and I was going to be away for half a day. It was then that I noticed a young girl about 20 years old working in the garden of the neighboring house. I asked and she agreed to take care after them. She looked a little odd. She had rosy skin and her arms were unnaturally warm. She smiled, made me sure that she would do what she was asked to and I left. After my job I ran home and found my sweeties sleeping and dinner ready in the kitchen. The girl was reading a book in a language I had never heard before. I thanked her and she left. The next day we were supposed to leave and I wanted to express my gratitude towards the girl for her help but apparently the neighboring house was unoccupied and the girl was nowhere to be found. I was a little surprised but in the end just happy my children were alright.

I spent the first year of my children's lives travelling with my job. But by the time they got one, they already seemed to be four years old. I got worried because they were aging so fast that they would live only for a few years. Then I decided to change my job so that I could spend more time with them. All my friends from the fashion world threw me a great party and wished me good luck. They remained helpful even when I had another job. My son was slim and tall so it was difficult to find suitable clothes for the boy. My friends always sent me some of their creations. My second job was in some audit company. I had never liked Maths before but then I found numbers quite easy to understand and I could always read for hours even if it was documents that I was reading. I did have to travel and now even to the countries I had barely heard of before. But I could work at home that was always provided to me and my children and that meant a lot more time with them. Whenever we were living near some forest or mountains they would spend an entire day playing outside. When they were about two years old we stayed near some forest and an abandoned beach. Then they started coming home and telling me how they had met some new great friends. My first reaction was shock but eventually I understood that those were their imaginary friends. Something quite common among the children who never had real friends and had to move around a lot. I was glad they were having fun and spending their time outside rather than in front of TV or computer.

It was one of the times when we were back in America and even Washington. My children were twelve though they looked like sixteen. I felt very sick and light-headed. The pain wouldn't stop for days and my blood pressure was very high. I had been delaying my visit to the doctor for months. Finally one day I fainted and my son called an ambulance. In the hospital I was told that my blood results were terrible and they wanted to do some tests for cancer. I got scared but couldn't back out for my children. Otherwise Gediminas and Adri would have never let me be alone. The diagnose was clear – cancer. Leukaemia. I had only four months and my body was refusing any treatment. After that morning I never came home. I spent all those months in a hospital with my children at my side. They would never leave me. Even when I told them to, they would simply pretend that they never heard me in the first place. I always smiled and tried to pretend feeling better but with my babies' gifts it was a waste of effort.

In my last days I would more and more frequently remember the one who gave me my little angels. I still loved him. Though I knew better than anything else that I had been only a toy for him in his long existence, I had forgiven him long ago. I did miss Alice and Esme more than the others. The first one used to be my best friend and the later was always kind, caring and motherly sweet. I knew my little Adri ignored all my sayings and feelings towards the Cullens and Gediminas simply considered them being a part of my illness and cared about them no more than about any other of my dreams.

When I felt sleepy for the last time, I sent all my love to my children through my thoughts. They smiled at me one last time. I knew that now they had to face this world all alone. Somehow I felt safe. They had each other and I will be looking out for them.

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**Thank you for reading. That's all for the pre-history. The main story will start from the next chapter. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't.**


	3. Stuck between the day and night

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**Here starts the main story. From this point forward everything will be written from Adrian's POV unless stated differently.

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New town. New life. Where nobody knows us. Away from everything. Away from memories. Away from acquaintances. Away from pain. Well, no. I will never get away from pain. But maybe in time I will learn how to face it. And one thing for sure – Gediminas will always be there for me.

Adrian. That's my name. Adrian Margarita Swan. My family used to call me Adri, but since Mom… well the words USED TO say everything. I am mid-height with chocolate brown eyes and shoulder length brown hair with natural bronze strips (no matter how hard I try to dye them, I always fail). I am neither skinny, nor bony but only the smallest sized clothes fit me. My skin is quite pale but not when I blush.

Gediminas Jasner Swan is my older brother. Older means he was born seven minutes earlier than me. He is tall, over 6 feet height, with short curly brown hair and green eyes. Now _he_ is skinny. If his clothes fit him in height, they look like an over-sized bag on him. If the size is normal, sleeves look like three quarters. Mom used to have a lot of problems while getting clothes for him.

We are twins in so many ways, yet I have always been and felt like a younger sister. The one to be protected and taken care of; the one to be loved the most and always praised. At the same time I rarely missed a chance to help those who I loved and cared about.

Neither humans, nor vampires. Or any other kind of pureblooded creatures for that matter. Stuck between two different worlds. Half humans, half vampires. Can it get any worse? (Don't answer that. Last time I did in "no", Fate showed me that it can ALWAYS get worse)

Back to what we are: when we were toddlers, we were growing so quickly that Mom thought we had only a few years to live – mortals. I wish we would have been. The pain would have lasted a lot less… But when we reached almost seven and easily could have passed for sixteen (okay, Gediminas for seventeen and whenever he wanted even eighteen) suddenly everything stopped. No more growing (forever mid-height), no more physical aging, at least no wrinkles or acne either – immortals (ech…).

Mudblood. Something I always hated about myself. My brother and I can eat normal food though animal's blood is more preferred; we sleep, have heartbeats and we do not sparkle in the sunlight. That's great! On the other hand, our skin is indestructible, we move faster than any human and we are strong in a meaning of having to forget an option of wrestling or even having a little fight hand-in-hand (somehow every time we did, the surrounding furniture got smashed beyond repair). Means no fun or childish games. FINE, I have to admit that our immortal sides were the reason we had friends unlike anyone else. That is with our mother having been transferred from one town into another and for over half a year spending time even in northern eastern Europe the two of us did have an awful lot of time to wander through nearby forests and mountains, lakes, beaches and seas. Anyway, our friends and we have always been too busy to get closer.

One more thing about what we are. Or actually what we can do. Mom used to call them "gifts". However in Gediminas' case a word "curse" would be more precise. The good side is that he can repel any physical or mental attack (though it does annoy when a book thrown at him lands half a room across from its target). The downside is that he can also read minds. Well "can" doesn't really cover it. He just simply does it. That's why his personal hell has been even worse than mine in the last half a year. I, on the other hand, have a lot less problems because instead of actually knowing other people's thoughts, I can only feel them and the reasons behind those emotions. And it is quite easy to tune this out as well. The better part about my "extra abilities" is that I can make other people be clumsy, like trip while walking a flat surface. Of course it doesn't last long, but I can repeat it over and over again. Not that it comes in handy at home with my brother repelling everything but it can still be funny sometimes.

Obviously my brother isn't my only family. Well not until lately that is.

We had an astonishingly beautiful and strong and caring and lovely mother. She has always been and will always be in my heart, even if she is no longer at my side. But I am not ready to talk about her yet, maybe latter some other time.

We also have a grandfather Charlie whom I had never seen before. For some reason he seemed to be content with only having a few photos of ours. When our Mom left, he lost any interest he ever had, coming home only to sleep and forgetting the difference between working days and weekends. Now that our Mom is no longer, I doubt he ever comes back, all with drowning himself in his job. That is one the many reasons why we are going back to our Mom's hometown. At least he will have to visit his own house every night in order to impose a fine on us for playing the music the way we normally do when we are alone.

So. Forks. Here we come!

By the way, if you are wondering about the sperm donor who have supplied the other half of our genes besides our Mom's, I never had a father and don't really need one. I suppose it would be just too strange now.

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**Thank you for reading. This is a beginning of the story. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't.**


	4. Shall we begin?

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**The time had come at last. Our documents were in order and we were going not just to see our grandfather for the first time in our lives but we were actually going to live with him.

Flight was long and boring. Once I beat Gediminas in chess, he refused to play more. When we landed and got our luggage we walked into the waiting area where we saw our grandfather for the first time. I was excited but when I hugged him, he only awkwardly put his hands on my back. My brother was a bit luckier and while shaking hands got a little smile from him. We all sat in his police cruiser and drove home. The drive was quiet.

Once we got to the place that was going to become our home Charlie seemed to have regained his confidence.

"So you are my Bells' children? I had never thought you were already so grown up. I submitted your documents to the local high school and you are starting tomorrow. I'm afraid you will have to share one bedroom. There is a closet and a dresser." Charlie said while walking up the stairs.

"Sure, no problem." I said, eager to see our room.

"If you two need anything, I'll be downstairs" He muttered and disappeared the moment he opened the door. "Thanks" my brother mumbled and we both walked into our mother's old room.

It was dim lit but cosy. There were two beds by the wall on our left separated by a little table with a lamp and an alarm clock. Further by the only window was a table with an ancient modem and an old stereo. By its side was an old rocking chair from our mom's childhood. The closet and dresser were by the right wall. They were quite big so all our clothes should fit in nicely.

I dropped my bags by the door and fell back on my bed. Of course the first thing my brother did, was set up a wireless modem. We both took out our laptops and after I checked my emails (nothing more than some good lucks from my friends), I fell asleep.

Next morning I woke up at 6a.m. Strangely it was not rainy but just a bit cloudy. Charlie had already left for work so there was no need to hurry up with breakfast. After taking a shower I finally managed to wake up my brother and make him into the bathroom. Then I got to my bag full of clothes… This was my first day in a new school so tracksuit wasn't an option. On the other hand this wasn't enough of an occasion to put on a dress. Therefore I settled down with dark blue Miu miu pants and a white short sleeved blouse. It would have been difficult to find my clothes that weren't designer-made because of all my mom's friends. Like my mother, I hated high heels so took the dark blue shoes with only two-inch-heels. After I grabbed an apple for breakfast Gediminas was ready to go. We took our schoolbags and left.

When we reached the school, the parking lot was almost empty. We parked our bicycles longing for the motorcycles we used to drive and went straight to the front office.

It was very bright inside. There were so many plants and even the walls had a shade of green. The room was divided into two parts by a long desk and a young lady was sitting behind it.

"Good morning. How may I help you?" She noticed us the moment we walked in.

"Good morning" I greeted her. "I am Adrian Swan and this is my brother Gediminas Swan. We are new students here and we came for our schedules." I said carefully with my eyebrows raised.

"Of course. Nice to meet you. Here are your schedules and a map of our school. These are slips for your every teacher to sign. Bring them back at the end of your day. I hope you like it here." She said with a warm smile giving us a not so small pile of papers. We thanked her and left to start our first day in here.

Luckily the layout of the school hadn't changed at all since mom was here so we knew it quite well from her stories. The schedule was another deal.

I had Maths first, then Physics, Arts (drawing), the most boring class History, finally lunch and English literature. I did have P.E. as my last lesson with Gediminas, the only one we had together, but thanks to our friend's father we were both dismissed from it, so I didn't consider it more than a waste of time.

I had only 15 minutes till my first lesson and Gediminas had a different one so I decided to make my way for it. When I entered the class, it was half full. There was an empty seat at the very front near a girl who was trying to read her exercise book in all that noise. Great! Maybe she liked Maths too. I gave my slip to a teacher to sign it and she eyed me suspiciously. No, I was not going to be one of those students who knew nothing about Mathematics, but I was surely going to cause her a lot of problems and quite a headache. I went back to the girl.

"Hello. Is this seat free?" I asked hoping for a positive answer.

"Hello. Yeah, of course it is. Do you really want to sit at the very front? There are some empty seats at the back of the class as well." She said with her eyebrows raised. I didn't like that question but I could feel that she was friendly and didn't mean to offend or get rid of me. She was simply giving me an option to sit somewhere else.

"I am sure I want to sit here. I am Adrian by the way." I said with a smile introducing myself.

"I'm Angie. I am afraid I won't be much of a help to you if that's what you're looking for because I'm quite helpless at this myself." She blushed slightly as she said this.

Help? Me? At Maths? I was finishing high school for the first time but it was still the easiest subject. "Don't worry. If you ever need anything with it I am always here for you." I smiled a little. I knew I might have sounded a bit arrogant but come on, it's Maths we were talking about. Could there be anything easier? And surely when the teacher finally started the lesson I knew she was not going to like me because whenever I get bored I start talking. We were going to study a new theme that day so this was supposed to be an important as in not-to-be-slept-through lesson. Angie seemed to be worried and uncertain of herself. It was obvious she was not going to be talkative this time so I just prepared myself to be bored to death. And it was as bad as I had thought it would.

Next lesson was Physics. It was much more interesting, but this time I got noticed by everybody. Teacher couldn't understand how I could get by with such small schemes. Any bigger would have been just a waste of paper. From the start of the class people especially boys kept turning back and glancing at me. I was glad when the lesson was over. Too early, apparently. Some guy walked to me and started talking as if he was somebody important and I should have felt flattered that he had even noticed let alone came over to talk to me.

"Hi. You must be the new student. I'm Mitchell. You wanna hang around? Maybe at my place this Friday?" He said smugly. I could hardly believe my ears. He didn't even know me! And he already wanted me to spend an entire evening maybe more with him and his boyfriends? I don't think so.

"Nice to meet you." I mumbled with an annoyed look on my face and made to the doors. For some unknown reason this only amused him.

"I didn't catch your name. So when should I pick you up?" he was genuinely sure I was going to go with him.

"That's because I never told you it. Bye." He was starting to get on my nerves and I made him trip. He murmured something about the wet floor but I was right in front of Arts' class and slipped in. He turned back and walked away and I had one more class about to start.

I gave my slip to the teacher and took a seat in the end of the room. The most beautiful girl I had ever seen was sitting in front of me. She was tall with blonde slightly curly hair. She looked more of a model than a student in a high school especially a junior class. Maybe just my mother was more astonishing before her illness. We were supposed to draw whatever we wanted. The girl started designing some clothes. They were good. Nothing special but at least not something worthless. Then the teacher gave me an assignment for the class to draw a person in motion. He just wanted to know how good I was and expected me to give him a walking or running man, the simplest thing. Well he didn't specify what kind of action it was supposed to be so I decided to go for my friend break dancing. It was amazing how he made his body twist and slide and turn. He wasn't exactly a human so maybe that's why he could move like that... Anyway, it took me little over half an hour to make a good draft. It needed just a few more draws to be finished completely. I decided to show it to my teacher. His eyes widened when he saw my work. It was made with a single pencil so he took it in his hands to inspect it better.

"Not bad… Not bad at all… You still have time left. Why don't you try something more common?" He said unable to take his eyes off my draft. Then he motioned for me to go away and I went back to my desk. He wanted something more common? I could do that. A group of people dancing tango wasn't a rear view, was it? Now I needed even less time to draw it. I waited for the teacher to come as he was looking at everybody's works following him with my eyes. He noticed that and told us to leave our drawings on our desks and dismissed us. The blonde was eyeing me suspiciously as we walked out of the class. For some reason I reminded her of somebody but she couldn't quite put it together.

The next subject was History and thankfully it passed without any incidents though it was unimaginably boring. I almost fell asleep twice. Then I was supposed to have lunch with Gediminas and went to wait for him near his locker.

**Gediminas' POV**

My first lesson was History. When I walked into the classroom something strange happened. The kids that had been shouting and discussing their plans for the upcoming weekend suddenly seemed to calm down. There was a boy at the back of the class who was quite irritated with the rest of the kids. An empath? I couldn't overlook that his mind was a lot broader than that of a normal human. Simply gifted or something else..? His scent… It was unrecognizable for me, yet familiar in a way. Teacher signed my slip and I made my way to the loudest girls so that his irritation towards them would get in a way to feel me and their strong perfume would drown out my scent. No wonder the girls greeted me eagerly. I was the new fish in their pond. Though they were a little disappointed that when the lesson started I paid no attention to them, I felt they were content with my very being close to them. The moment the class ended, I darted through the door.

Next on my list was Arts, drawing. Before I came into the room the pixie like girl was laughing and happy about the today's assignment though somehow she was the only one who knew it. I walked into the class and gave my slip to the teacher. He signed it without taking a look and motioned for me to sit at some empty seat. The aim of our class was to draw whatever we were interested in. The pixie-like girl closed her eyes and petrified for a minute. Then she opened her eyes with an annoyed look and glanced around the room. When she noticed me, she frowned but let it go and turned back to her papers. I saw how pale she seemed to be, but it was Forks, I supposed. Back to my work, I took a pencil and started making the shape of my favorite scenery. By the end of the class my drawing was perfect, a huge yacht in the sea during a storm. I could still remember my mom's panic and what she saw when she came down with the lifeguards to get my friends and me after our yacht's main mast was broken in a storm. A smile crossed my face at that memory. The class was over and I felt hopeful towards Mathematics.

When the teacher signed my papers I took a seat at the back of the class. They were going to study something new. Well, new to them but not me, not after spending an entire month with a freaky maths genius who was getting ready for some competition. I took out my notebook and started writing new lyrics for a song. The teacher childishly thought that I was taking notes of her speech. Like that was going to happen.

The following lesson was English literature. I had seen some other students reading Shakespeare's _Romeo and Juliet_. It shouldn't have been difficult in the first place because I had already read that book like a hundred times. When I got inside the empath boy was there sitting with a bulky short-haired guy who was so muscular it seemed unhealthy. I had to let my shields down just in case. I did make sure my emotions were nothing more than a simple curiosity towards the subject. When the teacher signed my slips, she started the lesson. I had to stay focused but after some time the boys lost any interest in me. On the other hand girls became fascinated that I could practically quote the play and they wanted me to be their partner in some shows in front of the class the following week. Luckily the teacher decided it was a too short notice to put me up for action so I was dismissed from the assignment. The rest of the lesson was quiet and nobody disturbed me anymore. Before a bell rang the two guys, Jasper and Emmett (that sounded familiar), started making their plans for the weekend. They were going to invite somebody else, like their brother or something, and then I went dead. I didn't like the face in their minds at all. I had to talk to my sister and right after the bell rang ducked out of the room. I certainly hoped my sister was waiting for me by our lockers.

**Adrian's POV **

Gediminas came over almost running and obviously worried about something he had seen or heard.

"You're alright?" I asked. He just nodded.

"Let's talk somewhere else. We might have a little problem." He said gingerly. I didn't like that. We walked outside and I faced him looking straight into his eyes.

"Have you ever seen our father?" He asked and I shook my head in no. "Looks like he is studying in this school. And he is not the only one. They're all here." He whispered. I looked away with pain and hatred for that creature on my face. "We can't change anything without making a scene now and nobody is saying that we have to talk or especially get close to them. Let's get through the rest of today and then we will have an entire evening to think of something. Don't worry. I'm here." He forced a smile though I knew it was unpleasant to say the least for him as well.

The bell rang announcing the start of the next lesson. It was English literature for me. I walked into the classroom and after I got my signature from the teacher, took the only empty seat. The guy sitting next to me was like nothing I had seen before. His eyes were golden, skin was pale white, hair was bronze-colored. His scent wasn't like anything I had ever smelled so I decided to put my thoughts into lesson in case he was one of them.

"Hello. I'm Edward Cullen. You must be Adrian?" he asked friendly. I went numb for less than a moment but he seemed to notice that as curiosity burned behind his eyes.

"We are having a show in front of a class next week?" I said trying to distract my thoughts as well as his from his question. I did succeed and started repeating _Romeo and Juliet_ over and over again in my mind. He seemed amused this time and only a little curious. Thankfully the teacher let us go earlier and I ran out of the class to meet my brother at the gym.

The coach was quite glad that we were dismissed from his class for a whole year for some medical reasons. Less kids to watch over and two students to help him for sure. I should have known with my luck today that the good beginning of the class was not going last long. Emmett (if they were here, this had to be him) was also having P.E. He came over to us with a serious look on his face though there was a trace of a smile playing around his lips.

"Hi. I'm Emmett. You're the new guys?" He started and got our attention at once. "My family and I would like to talk to you after school at our home." That didn't sound like an invitation, more like a statement.

"Why can't we speak in the parking lot?" Gediminas tried with surprisingly a lot more confidence in his voice than I could have expected.

"No. You're coming with us." Emmett shook his head. Looks like Alice could no longer see anything or at least not in connection with the two of us and it was disturbing to them.

"We have our slips to deliver." This time I tried my luck. Surely I should have known better.

"We will accompany you and then you will come home with us." He shrugged. My brother looked at me. There were five of them and we were no match to a mature vampire in strength or speed anyway. Gediminas closed his eyes for a moment and then looked back at Emmett.

"We will come with you without a problem on one condition." What was thinking?

"What?" Emmett looked trustless with his eyebrows furrowed. He didn't expect this.

"We will only speak about WHAT we are and not WHO we are. Then you will let us be." My brother had regained his full self-confidence.

"Okay. That won't be a problem." Emmett sounded proud of himself that he had managed to deal with this task. He turned around and walked back to class.

Was this day going to end? At least this was Wednesday already and not Monday.

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	5. You want an answer?

**Hello! Sorry for not updating sooner, but I've been really sick lately.**

**This chapter shows the way the story is going to be (more or less). It will change over time but I want to keep it as realistic as I can.**

**Again, thank you all for your reviews and adding my story to your story alert and favorites lists. It means a lot to me.**

**Enjoy reading.**

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**My brother and I were sitting in a red BMW with Rosalie and Emmett, going to their home. Not that I wanted to, but we had all agreed to talk only about WHAT we were and as long as they stuck to that, it was supposed to be fine.

We approached the huge house and in mere moments were inside. Carlisle and Esme greeted us at the doors and let us in the living room. They both took place in a loveseat, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie and Emmett sitting on the sofa whereas Edward lingered on the bottom stairs. My brother and I, not feeling comfortable, just stood facing them not far from the doors.

"We have never met anyone like you two before. You seem to be humans, but at the same time vampires as well. Will you please explain this?" Carlisle asked curiously.

My brother spoke up and I was grateful for that – it wasn't easy to watch my thoughts when I was silent, let alone talking.

"We are half vampires, half humans. We can eat normal food though animal's blood is more preferred; we sleep and we have heartbeats, and we do not sparkle in the sunlight. On the other hand, we stopped aging when we were around seven, our skin is indestructible, we move faster than any human and we are strong." He said quickly, obviously eager to get this done and leave.

Shock washed across their faces. Carlisle seemed to have thousands of questions running through his mind. And why did he have to pick out the worst of them..?

"It should have been very difficult for your parents to raise you?" He said still surprised but at the same time fascinated.

My brother shook his head refusing to say another word and ushering me to leave because he knew just too well that I had no control over my thoughts when it came to Mom. "We have agreed to speak about what we are, not WHO we are. We carried out our part of the deal, so now just let us be."

Unfortunately he was too late…

Mom… Her face was already in front of my eyes… The way she never yelled at us or shouted, she never even raised her tone. Always kind, with only a slight disappointment in her eyes whenever we did something wrong. She never did anything but explained in her calm voice why we were not supposed to do certain things. Reasoning with our minds and making us understand even when we were toddlers…

Mom… My eyes were full of tears.

"Wha-..? How..? When..? Impossible…" Edward, always quick with words, now apparently was out of them.

"Let's go." My brother whispered.

"No!" Alice and Edward shouted. "You can't." the later finished.

"Why not? There is nothing left for us in here." Surprisingly my voice was cold as ice.

"I am your father." He said slowly as if trying to persuade himself rather than me.

A sound of gasps erupted from the rest of his family. I needed only a second to make my answer clear. When I did, his face fell, but for the sake of the rest of them I voiced it:

"No. You're not." Misunderstanding and disbelief washed over his face. I could only roll my eyes at that: "Biological? Yes." I said nodding my head. "But not my FATHER. I never had one and never will" I shrugged.

Edward still couldn't understand and that started to annoy me. Why I felt a need to make it clear to him is beyond my understanding.

"You are not my FATHER, not according to my vocabulary. Fatherhood is a gift you refused when you left Mom." My voice was sad but with an obvious determination.

"I did what I did only in concern of Bella's safety. I would have never done so had I known Bella was pregnant."

"So you would have stayed with us out of pure duty?" Now I was starting to feel disgusted.

"That's not what I meant…" Edward whispered almost in defeat.

"But exactly what you said. Don't you know a saying: it's not our thoughts that describe us, but our actions. And yours were loud and clear." I was too angry to notice the deafening silence that had fallen around. "I cannot blame you for anything: you never wanted us in the first place, never gave us a thought. I would like to believe that I can understand you: after all our Mom was just another girl to fall for you and she wasn't going to last for an eternity, or maybe you simply got bored with her. Doesn't really matter now. I have no right to be angry with the rest of your family either. My mother was an outsider and you all just did what was the best for you. I would have probably put my priorities in the same order." I finished gently with disappointment and some coolness in my face.

They looked hurt. Not that I cared much.

"Why wouldn't we?" Gediminas asked after a quiet moment. Apparently someone was able to formulate not only a coherent thought but even a question.

"You can read minds?" Edward snapped out of daze.

"Isn't it only natural?" My brother answered with a question. And I thought I was cold and unfeeling…

I took a deep breath and went through the doors. This was too painful and I could take it no longer. Running as fast as I could I left.

**Gediminas' POV:**

I wanted so much to follow my sister, but Edward's voice held me there.

"Can _you_ give me a chance of being your father?" A little hope was evident somewhere in the air.

The hope that made me even more annoyed at him. He wanted an answer? Then I will give him such a good one that he will never ever again have a doubt about how I felt.

_Flashback:_

_My sister and I were sitting on chairs. She was asleep, I wanted to be as well but I was just too afraid to miss even a moment of our mother's life. Mom was lying in one of those awful and scary hospital beds. The ward was squeaky-clean and smelly from all the chemicals. Our mother had been ill for what seemed to be forever though it was only mere months. She used to be so beautiful, she was even now…despite the little detail that she was wasting away fighting an impossible battle. I could hardly stand watching her like this, but being somewhere, anywhere else was killing me._

_The scene before my eyes changed._

_My sister and I were sitting again. This time we were in a funeral church. Our mother was lying in a coffin, beautiful once again for the last time and now an eternity. She looked as if she was sleeping. I gave her one last look full of love and sadness and turned away for good because I knew, hadn't I done so, I would have never been able to leave her. And I had my sister to take care of. At that instance I felt so lonely. I had nowhere to turn to. No family, no close friends. Then I shed my only bloody tear in my life. Never again was I allowed to cry._

_End of flashback_

Edward was too stunned to even move and the rest of his family was decent enough to remain still.

I turned and left. I had a sister to find and nothing else in the entire world made any difference to me.

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**Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. I have the main plot but I could easily put in some short scenes if you want something specific. Just let me know.  
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	6. Safe harbour

**This chapter is shorter than the others, but I will post the next one soon.  
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**Enjoy reading**

_**

* * *

Last time**_

_I took a deep breath and went through the doors. This was too painful and I could take it no longer. Running as fast as I could I left._

**The story goes on**

After I left the Cullens, I ran home as fast as I could. The way was hardly visible through my tears. When I came home Charlie wasn't there yet so I simply fell on the couch in the living room and gave up myself to my tears. I had missed mom so much. She wasn't at my side and never will. My heart refused to comprehend that and just demanded for what was impossible. The pain and grief was terrible.

Later I felt Gediminas' presence. He was kneeling on the floor a few feet away. His elbows were on a coffee table and he was facing me. I could see understanding and compassion in his eyes.

"I brought our bikes back." he said quietly. I just nodded. We both heard Charlie coming in and I came to a kneeling position.

"Hey guys, how…" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw us the way we were in the living room. After slowly putting away his gun, jacket and boots he came to sit next to me. I felt so tired and weak at that moment that I leaned into him.

"What happened?" he whispered. Gediminas gave him a hopeful look and he put his hand around my shoulders gently bringing me into his hug.

"I missed mom." I tried to shrug.

"I missed her too." He whispered. He was preparing himself for a long monologue. "When your mom came to live with me I couldn't be happier. But I suppose I gave my job too much time. I would see her only late in the evening and we never did anything together. She was too nice to push it and I was too used to my solitude to notice that something wasn't right. I loved her from the bottom of my heart but never actually knew how to show it.

When my Bells left, I fell to nothingness. After some time I brought myself to feel happy for her. She was with Renee and then she had you two. But each day I came home, it was empty. I wanted for Bells to come live here and bring you two, but I was the police chief and Forks is a small town. Each time she called, my heart sang. Each time she talked about you, I wanted to invite you all over. Each time she wrote about you, I could hear happiness and pride in her voice. She even wrote a letter to you and asked me to give it in case something went wrong.

And here we are. All three of us. Your mom will always be with you because she is in your hearts. I still am the chief of police and my job takes a lot of time. There are no working hours. I can be called in any time, day and night, and it is dangerous. You two will have to help me. I don't want you to get into any kind of trouble or scene. But this time I am not going to make the same mistake twice. Whenever you need, I will always be there for you. I love you and you are everything that is left for me in this life. I am not going to loose you too." Grandpa ended with a small smile and determination on his face.

Grandpa. I think it's the first time I thought of this word in connection with Charlie. Grandpa. I liked the sound of that word. Gediminas gave me half a smile and I lazily closed my eyes. I was too tired even to think.

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**Again sorry it is so short. The next one will be a little longer.**

**Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. I have the main plot but I could easily put in some short scenes if you want something specific. Just let me know.**


	7. Midnight call

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When I woke up I was lying in my bed. Gediminas was asleep in his own and I could hear grandpa snoring somewhere in the house. It wasn't that late. Only 9.30p.m. so I got up.

I had just had a wonderful dream. It was my mom. She was beautiful as always and smiling. She said that we should give our grandpa a chance and that we were never alone. She also said that everything else was up to us. After all, it was our choice what we wanted to do with our lives. Now I felt warm and strong again.

I walked up to the window and opened it for the first time. There was a cold and gentle breeze. I always loved the wind. Then I noticed my mobile phone flashing on the table. Of course, who else would be calling, I smiled.

"Hello." I answered quietly.

"Hey, little one. What's wrong?" He asked with concern.

"Nothing." I tried my innocent tone and miserably failed.

"Your voice tells my differently." Accusation clear in his answer.

"I just missed mom." I tried again. And this time it wasn't even a complete lie.

"Yeah, yeah, you can fool your brother with that, not me. I know you when something is wrong." There was a tiny smile in his voice.

"I just had a really long and tough day." I let out a sigh. "But now I am closer with my grandpa." I said with hopeful voice, trying to distract him. Like that was going to happen.

There was a short pause. I almost felt like I had succeeded. Almost being the core word I heard his response.

"I can't get to Felina so I can't come to you right away." He said annoyed. "Can you do it till morning? I promise I'll be at your doors even before you go to school." He was pleading.

I knew it. I just knew it was going to happen and _he_ was going to say it. Now it was my turn to be determined. Besides, I had no wish of him seeing me like this.

"No, you won't." I was stubborn.

"You don't believe me?"

"Of course I do. But that's not the point." I took a deep breath. I was going to need my best will and persuasiveness to keep him where he was. "The point is that the last time we were together, we made a promise not to see each other soon. Remember?" I knew I couldn't stop or it would be a lost cause, so I carried on." That means no meetings till holidays."

"You didn't let me come all the time that your mom was in hospital and even during the funerals." I refused to let myself drift back to those times but his voice was rising in annoyance and that made me smile a little. I liked the feeling he gave me. The feeling of safety, importance and understanding in my heart that he would do anything and everything for me. Not that I was going to try that.

"You did call me. A lot. I spent more time talking to you than sleeping." Though I did like him calling me, it always made my day.

"Like that is enough." He murmured.

"Well if you are not enough of a man and you cannot keep your promise…" I trailed off. I had learned this from my mom. Always appeal to their manhood and never finish such sentences.

The silence wasn't short so he must have been thinking. That meant nothing good. He could be very creative when he wanted.

"Fine." He wasn't happy. At least that was clear. "I am not coming till your Christmas holiday. But I do hope you have no plans for the next Friday." That didn't sound good but I couldn't lie to him.

"Just school…"

"And your means of transportation are coming in next week."

"Yes…" this was becoming a little scary. Grandpa wasn't going to be happy when he found out what kind of free time activities we were used to. Even though mom had never actually forbidden us from them, she did ask us not to tell her about them unless we got hurt.

"Do you have any normal local friends?" he was becoming more relaxed and so was I. Humans meant no danger or extremity.

"There is one girl at school. She is nice enough, I guess."

"And how many does Gediminas have..?" he laughed lightly.

"Surprisingly none this time. See, most of the girls here are either average-looking or completely and absolutely dumb. And his mind-reading doesn't help." I laughed. My brother liked exquisite beauty and intelligence combined in one. You can imagine how often that occurred.

"Miracles do happen…"

"Yes, now in stead of sleeping with his mobile phone, he is hugging his laptop." I chuckled. I heard a strange noise in the background. "Was that your alarm clock?"

"No, that's dad's car." His irritation surprised me.

"Right." I remembered with a smile. "Somebody has to go to school."

"Right. Somebody has to go to sleep." He shot back and we both laughed.

It took us five minutes and two more calls from his father to say our goodbyes.

When I finally hung up, I felt happy, invigorated and a little sleepy. I did have two long days ahead of me till weekend but I also had a huge support.

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**Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. I have the main plot but I could easily put in some short scenes if you want something specific. Just let me know.**


	8. A second day of

**The show must go on...  
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**Enjoy reading!**

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**The next morning came all too soon. When I woke up it was already 6.20a.m. I could smell eggs and bacon in the kitchen so I darted downstairs still in my pajamas. Gediminas used to skip his breakfast whenever he could so I didn't bother waking him up.

Charlie…well… now Grandpa was eating his plate and I joined him taking mine.

"It is delicious." I smiled, but made a mental note to take the cooking over from him. The food was edible and quite good actually but the mess around was even worse than the one my brother makes.

"Glad you like it." We were silent for a while.

"So, when are you planning to come home from work today?" I hoped I hadn't sounded too impolite but I was not sure how to talk to him.

"Actually, I was thinking about staying home with you guys today. Nothing is happening in the station right now and if something goes wrong they can always call me and I would be there within a few minutes. And I was thinking about you kids. You need somebody close now. We could do something together. Like get to know each other better." He said somehow a little hopefully and carefully. He was afraid that I would not want to spent time with him.

"It would be great." I said enthusiastically. "Though it is our first week in this school. Well in a normal school at all. We had been home schooled till now so I think it is important and in a way interesting not to miss any lessons." I voiced this out carefully, fully aware of his possible reaction and was not disappointed as I saw grandpa's face fall a little after such words. "But it would be wonderful to spend the weekend together… Mom mentioned that you liked fishing and I have never been on a fishing trip before. Gediminas never took me along because as he has said he "liked fishing too much". And I would love to try." I said with my eyebrows raised and a little smile. Grandpa chuckled ever so lightly.

"Alright. Then we will spend an entire weekend together if that is what you want." He smiled and mine broadened in anticipation. The weekend was going to be great! "But you should go and wake that sleeping beauty up because you are going to be late." He said standing up and making his way to the door. "I should be back by 6p.m. but I cannot promise anything."

"I will be waiting." I smiled at him and saw his smile reach his eyes. He was happy he had us and that we were getting along quite well for a start.

When Grandpa left I went to the bathroom. I still had to make myself think of Charlie as my grandfather sometimes but it was becoming easier each time we talked. And I had a lot of time ahead of me to fully except him as a family member.

Surprisingly it didn't take me that long to be done in the bathroom and when I got out I made my brother go inside. Then I opened my bag which was full of clothes. I had no wish of doing my unpacking yesterday and now I saw why it was going to be a necessity to be done as soon as I came home today. Most of my favorite clothes were in a state that needed ironing quite badly and my options to wear were very limited this morning. I would have settled down with my yesterday's clothes but mom had taught me not to put on the same ones two days in a row. Especially when people were still likely to notice me more than was normal because of me being the new student. Like mom I never liked a lot of attention and being glared at by girls was what I hated the most. Which was exactly what I was going to get if I wore skirts. The reason for that was completely unknown to me so pushing aside everything that ended above the knees I found my black jeans that were a bit shorter than usually ending just above my ankle, resembled pants more than jeans so not offending to the teachers, and a little tight but not enough to make me look like a stuffed sausage. Pierre Cardin definitely knew how the job had to be done. I wanted a quiet day so chose a light brown shirt with a little compass on my front left side at the bottom. I left my hair loose; this was going to be enough of a complicated day to give a lot of time to my outfit. And Gediminas had finally made it out of the bathroom. We had both decided that it was still too early for us to walk around with designers' labels all over our things so we once again took our simple bags that I had made us years ago just for such situations.

Our bikes were outside waiting for us and it was only a little drizzle so we took off to have yet another (wait, it was only the second! And it already seemed like an eternity… just great…) day at school.

When we arrived the silver Volvo was already there and so was the creature. How else could I call him after all that he had done. On the other hand I was happy to see Angie coming in and after parking my bike went to greet her. The creature had started moving towards me but the moment I turned to my new acquaintance, he stopped and looked over to my brother. Gediminas was acting indifferently towards everything and everyone around him. Though he did put his Iriver player on and pressed the play button. The creature was starting to walk to my brother but changed his mind when the music blasted around us so loudly that even I could hear our friends' voices from his earphones and I was meters away. Then I finally reached Angie and we made our way to our first lesson Mathematics. Not a perfect beginning for a day but there could nothing go wrong during this class so I felt hopeful and relieved.

Could anything go right today? Apparently not. The lesson was so dragging that at some point I seriously suspected my watch had stopped working. How could a single person make something so interesting into something so terribly boring..? When we were supposed to do exercises on our own I finally got my chance to chat with Angie. The teacher wanted to give us both a lesson so she let us talk for a while till we got consumed in our conversation and my friend stopped writing. Talking and writing was never a problem for me because being a left-hander I could do both but that was not for Angie. The teacher asked her and she started blushing. I got my own idea of making fun and passed my notebook to her to read the answer. Since I had nothing in front of me the teacher asked me to explain the answer. Oh no. I was not going to give her the pleasure she was expecting. It wasn't difficult to remember everything. "Well it is obvious." I widened my eyes in a faked innocence with a tiny smile playing around my lips. And then I gave her a short version of my explanation. Her eyes widened in surprised. She was looking forward to hearing nothing from me so she tried once more. This time she asked me to explain some part of my answer. At first I thought that I was missing something but then I just gave her a right comment of the mathematical expression with my eyebrows frowned and in a tone saying that the answer was as obvious as the sun rising in the east. The teacher chose to pretend that nothing had happened and continued her lesson. The two of us were left alone to do whatever we wanted. Finally the bell sang and Angie and I both darted through the doors. Amusement was obvious on our faces.

I knew no other pleasant people in my next classes so I took out my notebook for drafts and started sketching whenever I was finished with my work in the current lesson. Some of the teachers noticed that but nobody said anything. It wasn't like I was being noisy or anything so they simply ignored me. I was more than glad with that.

Then the lunch came. I was supposed to sit with Angie who used to be alone. Gediminas was nowhere to be seen, so after getting an apple and tea I took my seat in front of the girl. We started talking about her sister. It was interesting for me to learn about the life of a normal girl. The way she was learning how to speak with guys when it always came so natural to me.

The bell rang too soon and we left for our next classes. It felt nice to have a normal friend to talk to and I was in a good mood before I entered my English literature classroom. Only then I remembered what was waiting for me there. An entire lesson sitting next to that creature. I decided to refuse to let my good mood go away and chose to try ignoring him the best way I could.

The class began and we were going to talk about _Romeo and Juliet_. We were reading and analyzing the balcony scene. I paid my attention only to the teacher doing my best to ignore all the background noise.

"Would you tell the girl of your dreams such beautiful words?" The teacher asked us dreamily. "Wouldn't you be afraid of her rejecting you..?" I saw how much she wanted to ask Mitchell but in the end she decided to go for another question for him and said "… Miss Swan?" Not what I expected.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "I wouldn't know because I never had a girlfriend." I smiled. And why did she decide to push it..?

"And if it was a boy you were talking to?" She wanted to get to know me better.

"I would never say such words before making sure he felt the same way for me."

"You would leave for a boy to start the conversation..?" she was surprised because of my old-time manners.

"Definitely yes." I was sure about this answer.

"Even if you liked him?" she frowned a little in curiosity.

"Especially then." I nodded. I heard some whistles coming from the guys in the class and that made me smile. Though a quiet growl at my side annoyed me. It was not its business.

"Sometimes the boys are too shy to talk to a girl in a such delicate way…"

"Then that is their problem. Not mine. If a guy is too shy to talk to a girl then how could he stand up for me if I ever needed him?" I answered with a question and a smile. I hoped the boys had heard this too.

"So you would act completely indifferently even towards the boy you liked?"

"Well, maybe I would snap at him a little less than at the others." We both chuckled.

I knew the class was coming to an end so finally I thought hard about all the ways it had betrayed mom and how much that had hurt her. The moment the teacher dismissed our class the bell rang and I almost flew through the door. I was not going to let it ruin my day. Gediminas was waiting outside the building with our bikes and I was glad to see him. We both took off. I was eager to get out of there as soon as possible.

When we got home I went to raid the refrigerator for ingredients needed for lasagna. The thing was almost empty so I sent out Gediminas with a list to do the shopping. In the meanwhile I took my time having a look around the kitchen and tidying the mess from our breakfast. I had just finished when my brother came back. He wanted to help me with the cooking. Naturally, in this way it took me even more time to do everything. When we were finally done with the job it was already late. We had our meal and Gediminas went to bed. I wrote a note saying about the food left to stay warm in the oven because Grandpa wasn't home yet. The moment I hit my pillow, I was asleep.

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**Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. I have the main plot but I could easily put in some short scenes if you want something specific. Just let me know.**


	9. Going down

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**In the end of this chapter the words in bold are Edward's. Just to make it easier to read and follow.  
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**Enjoy reading!**

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"Morning sunshine! Rise and shine!" Gediminas shouted coming into our room.

"Five more minutes…" Luckily he could read my mind because I am not sure if I said that loud enough to hear. Somewhere between a hush of wind and a whisper, I guess.

Wait! My brother is not only awake but walking around and talking?! That meant nothing good…

"Exactly! We are almost late." I couldn't understand why he was smiling…

"What time is it?" I wanted at least a few more moments of that blessed sleep.

"7a.m. and the bathroom is all yours." He chuckled.

"What?! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" I was not far from hysterics. We… Ok, I was so late.

"I tried…" he was laughing and teasing me at the same time. At least he went downstairs.

Skipping a shower was not an option. But when I got out, it was 7.30a.m. And then my today's hell actually started. I got to my still packed clothes and saw that all of them were crumpled. The only option I had was a white short-sleeved blouse that looked like made from leather, ended right at the bottom of my ribs leaving my stomach naked and making it even worse it was stapled only with two staples emphasizing my breasts and neckline. Of course, neither of my pants were good-looking enough for me to wear them so I didn't really have another choice but to browse my skirts. It would have been too good to be truth if any of those were in a decent state. I guess I should have felt happy for what I found but somehow happiness was too far from me… For start it was red, definitely meant attention. Then it was leather, even girls will turn their heads to me. To make matters worse, it was so tight that as my mom liked to say "it made even middle-aged men remember that they were males". Could there be anything more embarrassing? Oh and let's not forget a tiny detail that it ended way above my knees… But it was only school… Right? What could go wrong there..? Just half a day and I will be once again in my tracksuit… I was wondering maybe I could skip today at all? It's not likely that we were going to learn anything interesting or important anyway… Maybe I should fake some illness..? Not that we had ever been sick before but still…

"Don't even think about that!" I heard Gediminas yelling from downstairs. "We have 15 minutes. Make it faster." Whatever… I left my hair loose and put on my red two-inch-heels. If I was going to look terrible, then let's make the most of it. I heard my brother chuckling and went outside to make him shut up.

When I got downstairs he just looked me over and raised his eyebrows. If he says a word..! But he just shrugged with compassion and a little amusement which did not go by unnoticed. Finally we mounted our bikes and left. You can imagine how comfortable it was to ride a bike with a skirt.

If a good beginning is half a job then what is a terrible beginning? Half a hell? Apparently yes!

We had just a few minutes left before our first classes when we entered the parking lot. I took a deep breath and Gediminas chuckled at my side making me even more annoyed. We parked our bikes and went for our lessons.

At least the first few of them weren't a complete disaster. I did have to do my best to ignore all the whistles from guys but other than that it was not bad at all. Though meeting Rosalie's glare when she saw me during one of the classes wasn't comfortable to say the least. Of course I didn't want to look better than her! How could she even think like that?!

Then the lunch time came. I had missed my breakfast so I couldn't avoid that part of the school. Unfortunately all the folks with it as well…

Of course when I entered the lunchroom it was already stuffed with people. At least Angie was sitting alone and waiting for me. I stood in the queue for food and tried ignoring all the thoughts around me. I got a slice of pizza and made my way to my friend. Why did she have to sit by the furthest table? When I approached she looked me over and wasn't happy or amused at all. I know I didn't look good but I wasn't that bad either… We started talking. At first she was unwilling but a few moments latter we were joking just like yesterday. Ok. Let's be honest. Maybe I could understand guys starring but why were all those girls literally glaring at me..? Even Angie's eyes slipped to my clothes more than once…

Luckily I had no acquaintances in my next class. Only a teacher eyeing me more than was necessary… and of course a few guys turning back to _accidentally_ look at me. Did they really think I was so inattentive not to notice them? Or was getting my attention their goal all along..? I didn't like that. The class wasn't short but at least it didn't drag as much as Maths yesterday.

And have a guess what was my last lesson in today's hell? Right or wrong, but it was English literature. With it sitting at my side and hearing its growls towards any guy who had a teenage like thought about me. It would have been amusing at least if not funny if it wouldn't have been so irritating… I meant its behavior of course, after all we were analyzing _Romeo and Juliet_. What else could have been expected from guys?

At least the class wasn't boring and ended soon enough. I was one of the first to leave the room only to be stopped by its call. Gediminas was right. I couldn't keep running from him forever. I stopped outside the building a few steps aside from the main paths so that we could talk without getting interrupted. It looked me over and raised its eyebrows. I growled silently at it. Just say a word and you won't leave this place alive! It shrugged dismissing its present thoughts and going on with the intended conversation.

**"It won't take long."** It said in a tired and defeated voice. Looks like it had gotten used to me calling it "a creature" and treating it like one because it no longer flinched at that thought. Or was I wrong as it just did. **"I promise."** Like it could be trusted to carry out its promises… **"I just want to understand something."** And I wanted it to leave me alone… Not like it was going to happen… And which part couldn't it understand? Me hating it or me despising it? **"I know that you have all the rights to hate me."** Really? Well thank you for giving me your permission! Like I ever needed one… **"And I understand that it must disgust you that I am your father."** It was right at least about that part. And it didn't have to flinch at my thoughts if it really knew the way I felt. **"All with me being a monster."** It couldn't be more right! **"I understand that having such a monster like a vampire for a father is not what you wanted, but…"** The second part was lost to me. My first thought was whether he was completely blind or just faking one? Faking, of course. That was the only thing he could do, fake or pretend. My second thought stopped right there. I had to take a deep breath. If it just called itself a monster because of being a vampire then what did it think of me? I already hated my being because I was neither a human, nor a normal vampire. I was a mudblooded thing. A mistake in a nature! Most of the time I could forget that. And everybody knew better than to bring it up in my presence. I never expected _that_ to come from its lips. And it wanted something from me after such an insult?! Well, it wasn't really an insult… Just a mere truth, but… If it was a monster because it was a perfect pure-blooded vampire, then what was I? Half a monster? A whole monster? Or something even worse and more terrible? I took one more deep breath and raised my eyebrows. The creature was silent. That was not something it expected from me. I was stunned, shocked, surprised, fuming, insulted, angry… Take a pick. It couldn't be worse than what I felt! and even all those feelings together were nowhere near enough to fully describe the way I felt. I needed all my strength and will not to make a mistake now. Crying was not an option. And neither was shouting or hitting it or anything else because showing any kind of emotion was going to show me as weak and vulnerable to it. That was definitely not what I wanted. I closed my eyes and took one more deep breath. I wasn't listening to it even if it wanted to say something. It couldn't make things better and making everything worse could have hardly happened.

I didn't want it in my eyes. After turning around I saw Gediminas with his head bowed low and eyes closed. His face showed the pain I felt. He was standing by our bikes ready to leave. I slowly but deliberately walked to him, mounted my bike and sped away caring about nothing and no one.

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	10. Weekend with Grandpa

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**When I came home my mood was terrible. Grandpa was standing near his police cruiser and I couldn't help myself but relax and smile. He had decided to start the weekend earlier and was waiting for us. All we had to do was pack our things and hit the road.

Just like everything today, packing wasn't the easiest thing to do either. Luckily we were finally able to use our comfortable designer made bags. Strangely I found my clothes for camping quite easily and my tracksuit was in a decent state. But then Gediminas started looking for his suitable clothes. That was a scene to see. I couldn't stop myself from laughing. All his things previously so neatly put in places now were all over our room. He seemed to be going to a fashion show rather than camping.

"We are going fishing and I will not look terrible." He was serious and starting to get annoyed at me.

"Well when the fish see you they will drop dead." I laughed going downstairs. Grandpa was shuffling something in the cubbyhole.

"Looking for something Grandpa?" I was curious.

"I had my fishing rods somewhere in here." He liked me addressing him in this way.

The place was full with boxes and books and who knows what else. It took us more than 20 minutes to find what we needed. Even with my abnormal speed I couldn't make it faster. My brother was still upstairs.

"Why are you so worried? You will look terrible anyway!" I shouted to him chuckling in my mind. I was sure he could hear that. Friendly snapping at each other wasn't a rear thing between us but we never bite. I went to get some food and Grandpa frowned at me talking with my brother like that. "That is the only way to make him move faster." I smiled a little and he shrugged. He didn't like that he knew so little about us but we had a lot of time ahead.

I was done and through with everything. Especially waiting. "We are leaving with or without you!" I shouted and left for the car. I was riding in the backseat where I could sleep as much as I wanted. Gediminas finally darted through the door with Grandpa right behind him. My brother was carrying a huge bag full of clothes he wasn't going to wear anyway. I chuckled at him and he frowned. He couldn't say anything near Grandpa.

The lake we were staying near was somewhere near or in the mountains in the north. I didn't really care because I wasn't driving.

By the time we left it was a late afternoon so when we finally reached our destination it was evening already. Grandpa seemed to know the place. Apparently it was his favorite. We put up our tents and had a dinner (tea with sandwiches).

The shores of the lake were full of reeds and looked just a place for snakes to live in. My brother hated the creatures and needed constant reassurance that the grass' movement around us was caused by a wind, some insects or small animals and not crawling reptiles. At first Grandpa couldn't understand that but soon found it even a little amusing. I couldn't help myself but laugh when my brother jumped out of his place by the fire after I called one of the branches lying around a snake. Our grandfather smiled a little indulgently and continued watching the fire. It wasn't until the very late when we decided to call it a night that I felt like a real child camping with grandfather. Gediminas and I got up to go to our bedrolls.

"Good night kids. Be careful. I think I saw a black snake with a white strip going somewhere that way." His voice changed from friendly at the beginning to nonchalant at the end.

"What?!" We shrieked. We knew the only thing about such snakes. There were poisonous! And they used to bite. It wasn't like they were dangerous to us in a deadly way but we still didn't like them at all. My brother jumped back a few steps and I got scared myself. The most terrifying part was that we actually saw something black, slim and long moving not far from us. Gediminas started backing away for our car and I got to Grandpa's side. Just then the later laughed good-heartedly and my brother and I relaxed a bit. It was only an innocuous lizard! I tried laughing at myself but in the end just shook my head and decided I had had enough for one day. I went to sleep in my own tent and Gediminas was staying with Grandpa.

I was going to have an interesting and useful weekend. I just wasn't sure whether it was a good or a bad thing.

The next day and Sunday's morning were the best I had had since Mom passed away. Every time I brought that up Grandpa gave me a look full of compassion. Finally Gediminas lost his temper.

"It is alright to have fun. The life goes on no matter whether we want that or not. As long as we remember Mom there is nothing wrong to live on!" He snapped at me and I got silent for a while.

Grandpa wanted to change the subject. "So you are sixteen. I never thought you were already so grown up. Last time I checked Bella left about thirteen years ago and you were still a long way from being born…" It was the question that had been bugging him for quite some time now.

"Yes, well, we have a talent." I blurted out without thinking. We, with the help from our friends, had fabricated our documents but I couldn't actually tell our grandfather that. He was the chief of police and I didn't believe any kind of mischief was acceptable to him.

Grandpa just raised his eyebrows in confusion and my brother frowned at me. I did have a nasty habit of saying things without thinking first. Looks like we were in trouble. And as always it was my fault. I felt a bit embarrassed and Gediminas decided it was enough for this time. He started shifting in the boat. And he used to say that he never took me fishing because I was chirping and squirming. But now he was rocking the boat. My brother looked annoyed at me. Apparently I wasn't very helpful at the moment. Luckily he was a mind-reader and could take care of everything on his own.

He looked at Grandpa and quietly said shaking his head "You don't want to know." I felt relieved when our grandfather decided to drop this question rather than pushing it further.

Apparently there was one more thing he wanted to make clear.

"Yesterday I received a call about some cargo meant for you to receive… It has been paid for but what kind of cargo are we talking about? Or has there been a mistake?" He didn't like an idea of not knowing everything about everyone and especially about us.

"Last time our birthday and going away party happened to be on the same day." Gediminas started and I saw a look of guilty cross Grandpa's face. He has never given us any kind of present. Not that we cared about that, we had more than we wanted or needed, but looks like it was important for him. "Since we got sixteen our friends decided to give us a present so that we would never forget them."

"What kind of present are we talking about?" Grandpa was getting suspicious. After all the present required a container to be ferried.

"Mom approved." Gediminas felt danger and blurted out. I raised my eyebrows at him. He knew well that Mom had never actually approved of the things. She had just never forbidden us from them. That got Grandpa even more suspicious. "It's our means of transportation…" I felt hope in his voice and saw his eyebrows rise.

"How many wheels?" Grandpa seemed determined not to let us ride anything dangerous.

"Two." My brother said tentatively.

"Each of them." I didn't want any misunderstandings so just made it clear before we got a "no" without a proper reason.

"And we got our driving licenses in Berlin." Now saying that looked unnecessary for me.

"Really?" Why could I sense disbelief and surprise in Grandpa's voice? "Then you should be very good drivers."

"We did spend the summer last year riding bikes on mountain tracks…" This was the time I loved the most. Mom trusted us, we found great friends and had a wonderful careless time.

"Oh. Then I guess it's okay. But you will have to buy helmets before getting anywhere close to the things." He seemed to accept us being grown up though still wanted us to be safe.

"We already have everything. The helmets, jackets, gloves even boots for riding on dirt road." Gediminas wanted to finish the question today and not to leave any uncertainties. "When will they deliver the cargo?"

"Monday early afternoon. I will take it." Grandpa murmured. The talk was finished.

We were supposed to leave on Sunday after lunch. We had hunted about a fortnight ago and could easily go on for another two weeks at least but we wanted to be safe. So when we woke up in the morning, we took our bikes for a little ride in the mountains and Grandpa wanted a quiet fishing without my chatting so let us go only with a promise to get back in a few hours.

We took off and after an hour were miles away from our campsite. We stopped and smelled the air. It felt refreshing. There were some carnivores nearby but the scent repelled us. We felt sick from any kind of blood like that and it was especially hard to stand the scent of human's. It smelled salty and disgusting for us. Herbivores, on the other hand, was a completely different talk. While drinking my deer I smelled a new single sweet scent. It was a few days old leading to the north. Gediminas was meters away.

"Somebody is going north. Looks like we will finally get some peace and quiet." I said smiling and felt hopeful.

"Don't be too hasty. Here is the same one going back to Forks." He chuckled at my hope.

"Well, I guess you can't get everything at once." I shrugged. I wasn't expecting to be that lucky anyway. "It wouldn't be interesting to live if we did." We both laughed and since we felt already full, decided to go back.

When we returned Grandpa had finished packing and putting all our things in the car. We had a quick lunch and left for home. It was a few hours ride.

At home I had a lot of work to do. Starting with homework for the next week. Going on to putting all my things in places and not forgetting to unpack our things from camping. My brother would have left it like this for the next time. (Why should I unpack if I will have to put everything back in the bag anyway the next time we go?) Finally I settled down myself in the bathroom doing the laundry and reading. I wanted to be ready for the next week as well as I could. In the end I did all the ironing. The crumpled clothes as well as the freshly washed ones looked like new when I was finished. It was late and tomorrow was Monday again so I hit my pillow without thinking about anything else.

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	11. Good day, bad day

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Adrian's POV**

Monday morning came all too soon. This was going to be a long week. On the other hand I was about to receive a some kind of surprise on Friday. I could hardly wait for that.

When I got up Grandpa had already left. I pushed Gediminas into the bathroom and went downstairs to grab something for breakfast. The kitchen was clean as well as everything else around me. We did a good job yesterday. It was a warm though a little cloudy day. Perfect for a short ride whenever we finally get our means of transportation. I was getting impatient. I wanted to be done with school today as soon as possible. My beauty was going to be waiting for me at home when I got back.

My brother got out of the bathroom and I went in. We had plenty of time so I was in no hurry. I took a shower washing my hair with my favorite strawberry shampoo. This morning was perfect. I got out and went to my clothes neatly hanging in the wardrobe. I was glad I could put on anything I wanted. I chose black a little tight but comfortable Miu miu pants and a red Prada tank top which was like a second skin to me. I wanted to feel like being at home with friends today so I put on red Puma sneakers. I wasn't allowed to take my favorite schoolbag but the one I was taking wasn't bad either. It was black leather and designer made though there were no clearly visible brand marks on the outside (that is at least for humans as we could see them without a problem) and it wasn't officially released yet so nobody would know the model anyway.

Gediminas just shook his head a little while looking at me and mounted his bike. I followed him and we took off for school.

When we were in place, Angie was coming in as well so I made my way to her at once leaving my brother somewhere behind. I was in a perfect mood.

Mathematics' teacher must have remembered our encounter last week because she left us chatting and paid us no attention. We had a great time during an entire class. After that we walked separate ways. The next on my list was Physics. The lesson was fine. It was not something interesting but it didn't drag either. After it I learned that some people just don't take no for an answer.

"Hey newbie. Why didn't I see you at my party on Friday?" Mitchell was irritated. Did he really expect me to answer? Looks like yes because he was walking me to my next class.

"You were talking to me?" I pretended not to understand him as nobody had a right to call me any other way but Adrian (except for Gediminas, Grandpa and a few closest friends). I could get really touchy about this sometimes.

"Of course you." He was annoyed and it only amused me. "So, why didn't you come?"

"Because I didn't want to." Wasn't it obvious already?

"Are you stupid?" Now that annoyed me! "I personally invited you over. Nobody ever refuses that." Mister Importance was starting a scene. I decided to get rid of him.

"Then I will be the first one." It wasn't my fault he hung around with idiots and I was in front of the Arts studio. "Watch your step." I chuckled and made him trip. I was in the room before he even understood what had happened. The lesson was about to start.

The teacher gave us simple assignments and we started working. We were supposed to finish at home by the next lesson and I took my time. Rosalie was sitting in front of me but she didn't glance at me even once. I liked that. It was as if we were strangers which was exactly true. History wasn't more interesting either and finally I had lunch.

I grabbed a slice of pizza and took my place in front of Angie. We started talking. It was nice to have such a good and talkative friend. I felt happy. We were in the middle of our conversation when I felt somebody standing behind me. I didn't turn pretending I hadn't noticed her.

"Look who is sitting here!" She shouted. I didn't even know her name… "A hopeless loser and an about-to-be-a-loser. You are nobody here. You hear me? Nobody!" She was screaming at her full lungs. Everybody was watching. Angie was embarrassed for some unknown reason and looking down at her tray. I wasn't about to shout back. It was not a right way to effectively treat people like her so I continued telling my friend about my fishing trip in a quiet voice as if nothing had happened. I was waiting for the noisy girl to tell me why she was so angry. Right now it seemed like everything about me annoyed her. "I don't know why guys find you sexy. You are so plain and weak." Now I knew! She didn't like that I was apparently getting all attention from boys. Not that I had noticed that before. I guess I was too used to being around males. I was still sitting with my back to her, facing Angie whose face was now red. Everybody was waiting for my reaction and it was clear she was not going to just walk away and leave me alone. I made my decision that she was not expecting.

I stopped speaking. Slowly turned around to face her and waving my hand in front of my face asked her: "I'm sorry, you were saying something? Or was it just some fly humming?" My best innocent mask on with raised eyebrows and guiltless look in my eyes.

"Just stay away from Mitchell!" She shouted at me and fumed away back to her seat. People were still watching me waiting for my outburst. I just laughed lightly and turned to Angie.

She was shocked but I could see a little amusement playing around her lips. She liked the way I treated that girl but still… "That was Julia. Nobody treats her like that." Disbelief in her voice as well as her face.

"So? I am in a too good mood to let things like her ruin it." I shrugged and laughed again. The Julia girl didn't get her pleasure and now she was even angrier. We had only five minutes left till our next lesson and decided to go. When I was out of the lunchroom I saw Gediminas leaning to one of the nearby buildings and enjoying the light drizzle. He was not in a mood to talk so I walked on ignoring him and putting our conversation for some later time.

**Gediminas' POV**

Monday. The worst day of the week because it is only the beginning. As always I was woken up by Adrian's shouting and after a long shower I put on a white Pierre Cardin shirt with vertical light blue strips and a black also Pierre Cardin pair of still trousers. I still had to do my homework but with my speed it wasn't a problem. I got everything done and went to the garage to make sure there was enough room for our means of transportation when they arrive. I took our bikes outside and then my sister walked out. All her clothes were tight emphasizing all the lines of her body. Did she want even more attention than she was already getting from all the men at school? Including male teachers! Even her bag was leather and brand new. That was definitely going to attract unwelcome eyes. But Adrian was Adrian. She preferred comfort to everything else. I just shook my head looking at her and mounted my bike.

When we got to the school the parking lot was almost full. My sister went to her friend and I headed straight for History class not wanting any conversations. Jasper was inside. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to talk to me so I happily ignored him. The lesson was slow and boring but that's History for you.

The next on my list was drawing. I knew I was going to see Alice therefore I put on my Iriver player at full blast. The teacher eyed me a little annoyed but let it go. The pixie kept staring at me during an entire class. Finally the lesson ended and I left as quickly as I could without drawing any unnecessary attention. Honestly, was I expecting to escape that so easily? I was walking down the corridor when I heard.

'_Gediminas'_ Alice shouted in her mind.

'_Wait! Gediminas!'_ she was getting close._ 'I just want to…'_ she began.

I cut her off because she was close enough to hear my whisper and I was getting impatient. "WHAT do you want?" I asked frustrated and annoyed.

"…talk." She finished sadly. No, I was not going to be friendly to her and I did know enough to have my own opinion about them.

"Then talk." I said dismissively.

"Why are you so angry with me?" incomprehension in her voice.

"You really don't know?" I couldn't believe I had heard that question coming from her.

"No." She shrugged. "I was your mother's best friend…"

"Exactly! That is you were pretending to be one." I was starting to loose my patience.

"I don't understand. I was always there for your mother. Maybe she didn't tell you, but…"

"She told me everything. Even more than she wanted." I interjected.

"… I even came back alone to her after her cliff diving and went with her to Italy." She finished. Was that supposed to make any impression on me?

"To save your own brother." Now I was truly annoyed! "That jerk is a player but real friends are for eternity. Least you claimed to be one." I said disgusted with my eyebrows raised. "You and Jasper of all people knew exactly the way my Mom felt. But no, she was just a toy for you. Whenever you got bored, you left. And who cares how she felt...? Eventually you hurt her in the worst way possible and didn't even dare to apologize. You, who claimed to be her best friend, in the end were her worst enemy." I burst out. I couldn't remember the last time I talked so angrily and emotionally. Pain was on Alice's face but nowhere close to the one my Mom had been through.

"Don't. Ever. Talk to your aunt so disrespectfully." Edward growled standing by his sister's side.

"And who are you to tell me how I should or shouldn't act?" I glared over him, turned around and walked away. I had a class to catch.

Luckily none of them got in my way during the rest of the day. I had classes only with Jasper and Emmett and the two of them knew better than to stand in my light. I spent lunchtime enjoying a light drizzle and calming myself down. My school day was about to end and I had to be in a decent state to go home and be with my sister and grandfather. Our means of transportation were being delivered today and this lightened my mood a bit. The bell rang too early and I was pulled from my daydreaming back into reality.

**Adrian's POV**

The rest of the school day was quiet. I did have to sit with it during my English literature but this time we both decided to stay silent to each other. When I saw my brother again, he was still in no mood to talk. After our lessons we rode home.

I was excited. Grandpa was waiting for us with our beauties.

"No riding before you get helmets." He was strict about our safety but I could see he just cared about us.

Gediminas opened his motorcycles saddlebag, took out his helmet, jacket and gloves, and put them on. He was ready to go. My brother mounted his wheels and left without saying a single word.

Grandpa and I just watched him leave with wide eyes. He looked at me and I shrugged. My brother was obviously having not the best day in his life. He will come back when he was ready. He knew he could trust me and that I would always listen to him and help any and all the way I could.

And I had my Honda Interceptor/ABS 2009 right in front of me. It was beautiful. It was white (something done especially for me by my friends). Its revolutionary VTEC combined the power characteristics of both two- and four-valve cylinder-head layouts for great low-rpm torque and plenty of high-rpm power. Triple-box-section twin-spar aluminum frame featured a tuned, pivotless design that isolated the engine-mounted swingarm from the frame and contributed to handling comfort. Its also unique Pro Arm rear suspension was light but extremely strong. It looked like the fastest and strongest beast. I loved it!

I rolled my darling into garage to slick it down. Grandpa was laughing at me but I just ignored him. I was ready to spend all the evening with my beauty. Late at night grandfather finally managed to make me go to sleep. I knew he was right so I made my way without whining a lot. I did have to whine a bit to show I didn't like the idea. It was almost midnight when I felt Gediminas going to his own bed to sleep. I was glad he was home and alright. With this thought I fell asleep.

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	12. Alice

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I woke up early in the morning. Gediminas was still asleep and I could hear grandpa making breakfast in the kitchen. I went downstairs but not without playfully tangling my brother's hair just to let him know it was already morning. He moaned a little and I felt amused that I got his attention. For some reason I felt happy. Maybe because I had my beauty at last…

When I got to the kitchen the breakfast was ready. Eggs with bacon. I wondered if grandpa knew any more recipes..? Well despite the terrible mess around he did a good job. I took my plate and sat in front of him. We talked for maybe fifteen minutes making plans for our next fishing trip this weekend. Finally he got up to leave and I took our dishes to the sink. He made me promise that we won't do anything stupid or reckless while riding our motorcycles. He was walking through the kitchen door when he remembered something.

"By the way, you got a letter yesterday." He took a not so thin envelope from the counter. "I wanted to give it to you but you were so busy with your motorcycle that I forgot it when I saw your excitement. I hope it's nothing important or urgent…"

I opened the letter and saw four invitations to a music club named _Apollo_ in Port Angeles. The last time I was in such place was while we were staying in Europe about a year ago. The invitations were for Friday night. The moment I saw the playing group's name I understood what kind of surprise he was preparing for me. A few years ago my friends started a band while studying in some grand school of arts. And now they were coming here! I could hardly suppress my excitement and joyfulness from jumping around the room. It would have looked strange to grandpa and I still had to get his permission…

"Grandpa..?" Suddenly I was careful. "Could I have a night out on Friday?"

"What do you mean "a night out" ? You are still very young to walk around alone in the evening." He was protective and I didn't like that. It wasn't helpful at all.

"I got invitations to a music club and I would love to go…" I had to persuade him in some way.

"Where is that music club? I could take you there." He didn't want to let me go alone.

"In Port Angeles…" I had no wish of him coming along. I wasn't a child anymore and I could take care after myself.

"Don't worry. I will go with her." Gediminas was by my side. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was fully dressed and had taken the invitations from my hands. My brother was too slow to get ready in those mere minutes that we had been here.

"Those clubs are no place for such young people like you." At least he didn't call us _kids_ but he did not like the idea of letting us go either.

"We don't drink alcohol. At all. We have tasted some of it with mom but we hated it." Gediminas shook his head and Grandpa relaxed a bit. "And our favorite group is coming in." He raised his eyebrows.

Charlie sighed without any happiness but nodded. "Alright. You can go. But I want you to behave. And if anything goes wrong I want you out of there and get home. And no walking around or going anywhere else." He was worried about our safety. I liked that. My brother and I promised to do as he told us and he left. I was so happy! I went to the shower in an even better mood than I had woken up.

When I got out of the bathroom I saw some of my clothes laid out on my bed. I shook my head in surprise. Since when did Gediminas choose my outfit for me?! I didn't look that bad yesterday..?

"Just put them on!" I heard my brother yelling from downstairs. "And give me a quiet day without all those males falling for you." He muttered.

I didn't understand him completely. I did dress up yesterday in an absolutely decent clothes.

"Decent? Yeah! But they were far from being modest." I could hear him walking in the living room.

What was he talking about? Just because some girl made a scene didn't mean anything. Well, whatever. The clothes weren't dreadful anyway so I guess I could go on with them if that made him feel better… Being honest they weren't bad at all.

The t-shirt was military green and white. It was made of silk and had three quarters sleeves and crewneck. The jeans were black with some leather and metal details. He even picked out my shoes! They were dark brown leather booties with notched top, stacked 1.5 inches heels and metallic grained leather lining with leopard-print trim at the top. The ride was going to be quite chilly so thankfully he decided to let me wear a jacket as well. It was black and made of leather. It also had a lot of zippers. The jacket was like a second skin to me and with a little puffed sleeves it emphasized all my bodylines. It had an animal print too, though it wasn't very clear. The only problem with my outfit today was that everything was made by Dolce & Gabbana. Even my black leather belt (with these jeans I needed one) was of the brand! It was one of those brands that I could hardly stand because pretty much all of their clothes were sparkly and flashy! Well except for the ones I was going to wear today. I wasn't going to feel comfortable in these garments so I took one of my favorite bracelets to improve my mood. It was made of black leather and had silver dragons on it. AND it was made by Roberto Cavalli and not some D&G.

For some reason when I got downstairs Gediminas wasn't happy anyway.

"Can't you look simple in any clothes?!" he asked exasperatedly.

"Some Julia whatever said I was already plain." I shrugged annoyed. What was his problem?

My brother just shook his head in a tired manner and put on his helmet. He was ready and waiting for me. I mounted my beauty and we left.

While we were on our way I got a message from Angie. She had gotten cold and wasn't coming to school today. Great! How was I supposed to invite her to come with me on Friday night? At least she wrote that she would be coming to classes tomorrow.

When we entered the parking lot everybody was staring at us. Even the Cullens. I guess the view wasn't something they had seen a lot before. Two magnificent knights of steel, one was completely white whereas the other one was black as death. And two dark riders on them. I didn't want to know what people were thinking about us but I could feel their admiration. Gediminas growled at my side and I chuckled at that. When I took off my helmet my hair flew loosely in wind. I liked the feeling. I put my jacket in my saddlebag and made my way to the Maths class. All the males were either still staring at my beauty or following me with their eyes. Just great! Even Jasper and Emmett couldn't take their eyes off my motorcycle while _it _was watching me. I decided to ignore them. My brother wasn't having a better time. All the girls were eating him with their eyes. He did look not so bad today, I suppose…

My clothes were not tight today so I couldn't understand all the staring I received from males and most of the girls. I guess I should forget wearing my black leather pants for school any time soon if I didn't want to draw any more attention… Otherwise some of those guys, who were now imagining me with a full tight military uniform, might actually summon up the courage to come and try flirting with me. It was probably the first time in my life that I felt more comfortable in a presence of females rather than males. Of course that is whenever I managed to ignore their stares and glares towards me.

Other than that the lessons were fine. They weren't interesting because I had nobody to talk to but they didn't drag much either. Maybe I should get used to Rosalie's killing look..? It wasn't like it was my fault that I had no terrible-looking attire to wear and make her feel better.

I had had a very good breakfast and I still felt full so I decided to skip lunch and have a little walk around. I was just outside when I heard Alice calling my name. There were no other people around thus I figured I would give it a shot and stopped to let her approach.

"Adrian!" she darted to my side. "Hi! I wanted to talk to you."

"So talk." I shrugged. I had no idea what she wanted from me.

"Don't yell on me, please. Just hear me out." She pleaded.

"I am not going to shout at you but I have nothing to tell you either." I still couldn't grasp her.

"I know you are angry on me." She sounded sad but determined to be heard this time.

"I am not angry on you." I interjected quietly. She had talked to Gediminas yesterday and miserably failed and now she was trying her luck with me. She was persistent to get close to us. Not something I had anywhere in my mind. Anyway, she didn't listen to me and went on.

"I was your mother's best friend." Now she was wistful. "And maybe I did leave her too many times listening to Edward." I wasn't sure if she really meant what she said and I hated that name, but it wasn't her fault. "But I always kept me eye on her in my visions. The day she disappeared I thought she was with those dogs and didn't give any importance to that. It was Friday but when I couldn't get even a glimpse at her during the entire weekend I got worried. On Monday she was nowhere in school. I thought she was sick or something. After a few days she was still out of my visions and there was no sign of her anywhere. It was then that I started asking around against my brother's will and found out she had left. I had no idea where she was and I couldn't see her. Days went on and nothing changed. I was blind to her therefore I decided to wait for her. I thought that she would still have to come here to visit Charlie sooner or later…" She felt guilty.

"Alice!" I said loud enough to get her attention. "It doesn't matter. It was not your fault." I said shaking my head. "I understand why you did what you did." I shrugged. And I really did understand her. "That creature was your brother. You had no other choice. It was not like you could let him go alone and stay with my Mom who trusted only you as a friend. I know that I have no right to ask any of you for that. I have a brother too. And though I constantly call and write to my friends I have left a lot of them behind." I said dismissively with my eyebrows raised. "It was not your fault. I am not angry on you. Actually I don't care at all. You are a vampire and my Mom was a human and you do have your own life." I shrugged once more. "It's alright." I nodded. The bell rang.

"But…" this was not an answer she wanted.

"Don't worry. I honestly don't care. I have to go." I turned away from her and left.

While I was walking back to school I could hear her talking to Jasper.

"At least she didn't shout and doesn't seem to be angry." Alice leaned into her lover who enveloped her into a hug.

"No." He shook his head. "She isn't angry. It's even worse."

"What do you mean?" Alice looked at him surprised.

"Anger I could handle. But this is beyond me to understand." Jasper was watching me but I was in front of a building and had to go in. I let them be alone and turned my attention back to my own life.

The creature wasn't in class today. Well, it was his problem, not mine. I knew why I felt relieved but why I also felt uncomfortable sitting alone was beyond me. The lesson was boring. We had to create something for a person we loved. A letter, poem, song… anything. I decided to go for a song and started writing lyrics. We had to finish it for the next week when we would be having _A Day of Arts_. I was in no hurry so I finished it during my P.E.

When we got home it was still empty. We started cleaning the kitchen and making dinner. I, one more time, reminded myself to take over the cooking from Grandpa. When we finished and had our meal it was night. I left Grandpa's portion covered with all the kitchen towels that I could find and went to my bed. Things were getting better for me and Angie had to be back tomorrow so I felt hopeful and fell asleep.

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**Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. I have the main plot but I could easily put in some short scenes if you want something specific. Just let me know.**


	13. My way

**The show goes on...  
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**Enjoy reading!**

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When I woke up in the morning I could hardly believe my eyes. It was sunny! With actual sun in the sky! And without a single cloud! I playfully shuffled Gediminas' hair and went downstairs. Grandpa had returned just before dawn and was now getting his rest. I had no imagination today so I made only some pancakes for breakfast. My brother was going to skip it anyway therefore I was really making it for two. As soon as I finished Gediminas was fully dressed and reading something in the living room. I made my way to the bathroom and when I got out I was glad to find no clothes laid out on my bed. Looks like my brother finally trusted me enough to let me choose my own outfit. I guess it didn't work out yesterday the way he had expected.

I chuckled hearing his quiet growl from downstairs and opened the wardrobe. I was about to have my morning headache because I always hated the part of the day when I had to choose my clothes. Well, it wasn't like I was going to escape it…

It was a beautiful morning today thus I decided to go for my white Gucci outfit. A simple white short sleeved shirt with thin red strips on the end of both sleeves. White five pockets style jeans with cropped legs and low-rise torso. There was also a little logo on the back pocket. I just hoped the shirt was long enough to hide it. No matter how beautiful the day was going to be it was definitely too cold to drive my beauty only in shirt so I took my jacket as well. It was of white leather with standing collar and two zip pockets on front. It also had ribbed collar, cuffs and waist. There was a thin red strip at the bottom of it too. My sneakers were white, lace-up with rubber sole. The only problem with them was that there was a tiny Gucci crest ornament on their sides and it was quite visible. Maybe if I pretended it wasn't there nobody would notice it..?

Anyway I was done with my outfit for today and went downstairs. Gediminas was holding our beauties.

"You do remember that we are trying to keep a low profile?" He wasn't happy with my clothes. Again, that is.

"Look who is talking. How many guys did you see always wearing black perfectly ironed trousers with a straight crease, some kind of white shirt and a simple but beautifully made jacket or waistcoat?" I was not the only one always failing to look inconspicuously.

"Fine." He sighed. "Listen, about Friday…" he started.

"What about it?" he had my full attention at once. "Don't tell me you are too busy to go and I will have to miss it!" I was on guard now.

"No, no. That's not what I was going to say." I felt relieved. "It's just that I can hardly imagine myself finding someone to go with till then and I have no wish of inviting any girl just to invite. I don't think they understand the word _friend_. So I thought maybe you had somebody you would like to invite…" he wasn't looking into my eyes. Clearly he didn't like the idea that for once in our lifetimes he was the one having problems in finding decent people to spend time together. "Whatever." My thoughts made him irritated and I chuckled. "So you want it or not?"

"Sure. I am already inviting Angie but maybe I will find one more who wants to come along." We didn't have to use all the invitations anyway.

He shrugged and mounted his wheels. I followed him and we left for the sunniest day I could remember in a long time.

When we arrived everybody in the parking lot was watching us. I have to admit the view was something to look at. Two knights, one completely white and the other one completely black with riders matching their colors. Angie was waiting for me. I went to her pretending not to notice the stares. There was no reason to show how much they irritated me. My friend smiled at me and we both darted for our first class.

It was Maths. We were late just for a few minutes, but those few moments were the most important. That lesson we were supposed to do some exercises on our own and teacher was going to walk around and help us individually if we needed. I thought it was a single-class work.

For half a time I was interested because I had a work to do. When I was done Angie was still stuck somewhere in the beginning. Me being me, I got bored. The teacher was somewhere in the back of the room and everybody around me was busy so I started giving hints to the poor girl and finding theory in her books. At first she was surprised, but then decided to take her time studying the books. I sat in silent watching her for a while. Of course, watching somebody looking at a book and finding nothing when the answer was right in front of her was not for my nerves. I took a pencil and started pointing out things in the books and scribbling other necessary stuff in her exercise book. Why was she surprised? It wasn't that difficult. She needed two excruciatingly long minutes to figure out what I wanted from her and then luckily only fifteen more to finish the work. Well, in the end she just had to rewrite my notes and I explained everything she did not get or could not make it out. Then we started chatting.

Apparently Angie had a younger sister who was in her last form in the secondary school. The young one wanted to do everything with her sister and I kind of understood her. After all I grew up with an older brother and was always following him and doing the same things as he did. It was the first time I was actually getting closer with a girl for a friend, in stead of guys who were already Gediminas' pals. Guys and girls made a ratio of four to one among my acquaintances. And even then most of the girls were siblings to my brother's friends. Not that I ever complained. On the contrary, it was always much easier for me to understand the guys than the girls.

We had been talking like this for almost ten minutes when the teacher came to me.

"You don't understand something, honey?" I could not understand Mathematics? Was she joking? Well she did not look like one…

"No. Thank you. I am finished." I answered in what I hoped was a polite way and tone.

"If you are finished with the first half of the exercises then carry on to the others." Was I missing something because she looked surprised and people were starting to look at me in a strange way? Some of them even had those glares like they thought the teacher was going to scold me.

The point I missed in the beginning of the class was that we were given exercises to do in two days. That was today and tomorrow. Of course, finishing everything in one day was not up to their usual speed.

"I am done with all of them but I suppose there should be a few more interesting exercises in the book." I said turning for my material. The teacher took my notebook while I was flipping pages looking for something well… at least not boring. I took my time and saw Angie smiling a little at my side. After what seemed to be an eternity I got my exercise book back with a disgruntled grimace on the teacher's face. I started writing down the numbers of the less time-wasting exercises for the next class as it was going to be even worse than today. Finally the bell sang and Angie and I both darted through the doors. Amusement was obvious on our faces.

The next few classes were boring and dragging. Finally the lunch came. When I entered the lunchroom I noticed that all the tables were taken except for one at the end of the room. It was strange. I didn't remember any tables being empty before.

I grabbed a pizza to eat and made my way to Angie. She was still in a good mood from our Maths class. I took my place in front of her.

"So, how are you?" She looked as usually. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah. It was only a little cold." She answered dismissively.

"Are you up for some time away from routine?" I was wondering if she, even feeling better, wanted to go out or rather stayed home…

"What do you mean?" She was ready to go out.

"First of all, do you have any plans for Friday night?" if she did, the evening was not going to be as good as I wanted it to be.

"No…" She was free!

"How about going to a music club in Port Angeles?" Just then I realized I did not know whether she liked music and dances…

"Which music club are you talking about?" Was there more than one?

"The _Apollo_." I hope it wasn't a trashy one.

"Guys, did you hear about that new music club in Port Angeles?" the girl from Monday was talking to her friends so loudly it was impossible not to overhear it. They were passing our table therefore we stopped chatting and started listening to them.

"Of course! It is one of the best and most luxurious clubs in the country!" some blonde answered her excitedly.

"And they only allow a handful of musicians to perform there!" another barbie babbled.

"I even heard the singers who want to show themselves there have to send a list along with records of the songs they are going to sing." The only dark blonde couldn't afford remaining silent.

"The Apollo clubs _are_ probably the most expensive ones for a reason." Ju-something stated finishing the discussion. "After all, a single ticket costs over two hundreds of dollars." Her friends yelped like dogs at that. "And my father got me three tickets for this Friday's night. So, you will have to do your best and I will choose from you who will come with me." All her friends tensed up at that. Then she noticed the two of us looking at them. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want to go too?" Her faked friendliness almost made me sick. "Because my father got the last tickets…"

"Good for you." I said nodding. I had no idea why she was telling us this like we cared about her plans.

"Anyway, I think you should find yourself a more suitable place. Maybe some shabby library… Because I don't think they will let such beggars like you in any other more decent place." She laughed with her friends while walking away.

I just shrugged and looked back at Angie. She seemed embarrassed and had lost all her interest in going out.

"So, what do you think?" I hoped she didn't change her mind about going out.

"You mean _that_ club?!" her eyes widened and I nodded. "I don't know. I definitely can't pay hundreds of dollars only for a ticket. And I will have to watch over my sister…" she was looking for an excuse not to go. I didn't like that.

"Forget the tickets." I shook my head dismissively. "And I am sure we can think of something about your sister. She is not a baby."

"You heard Julia, there are no tickets left…" If the tickets were the only issue, I was going to have my own way in this.

"Perfect!" I could feel she wanted to go. "Then you will come over to me or should I come over to your place before going?"

"If you came to me we could go together with my car." There was the excitement I was looking for. "Do you know who is playing?"

"A young group from Europe. It's called _Firice & Wind._ Usually they play pop rock but it can be something different. It depends on the occasion and their moods." I chuckled. I was sure nobody knew my friends across the Atlantic. They weren't famous even in their own hometown. They just knew how to do their music.

"Sounds interesting." She liked the idea. "But I'm not sure if my parents will let me go alone…" She blushed and I had no idea why.

"Gediminas is coming as well." I didn't want her to be concerned about such unimportant things.

"Then I guess it's ok." She murmured still a little embarrassed. "Oh! Look at the time! We should go!"

We got up and left the lunchroom. During all that time I felt like there was something missing in the room. When I got to the class I saw that I was going to sit alone again. I couldn't shake off the uncomfortable feeling during the entire lesson.

While going home Gediminas decided to take a longer ride so when I got to my sanctuary I was all alone. I turned the music on at full blast, made my homework and went to sleep.

The next day was nothing more but waiting for seeing my friends on Friday. It was sunny so certain creature didn't come at all, Angie and I talked about the upcoming concert all the time and even my teachers paid me no attention. In the evening I went to sleep feeling happy, hopeful and even excited.

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**Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. I have the main plot but I could easily put in some short scenes if you want something specific. Just let me know.**

**I promise the next day (Friday) will not be sunny.  
**


	14. Romeo and Juliet

**Sorry for not updating sooner.**

**The story goes on, but some things tend to happen not when you expect...**

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**Enjoy reading!**

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When I woke up I could hardly contain my happiness. It was Friday, I was going to a music club and I was going to see my friends! I went downstairs and made waffles with ham and creamy sauce. It was delicious! Grandpa came and we had a quiet breakfast. I was squirming in my seat to get the day pass sooner and the evening come faster. He only chuckled at my excitement and left for work. Gediminas was typing something in the living room so I went to the bathroom.

When I got out I opened my wardrobe. I was in my best mood and I thought it was enough of an occasion for me to put on the clothes I rarely took out. They were the ones my Mom loved. First of all I found my white silk shirt with a round neckline and button closure. It was stretched with short puffed sleeves and had a bow at my collar which was ruffle trimmed. Then I shuffled through the rest of my attire for my skirt. It was light pink, mostly made of cotton, with high waist. The waist was belted with square logo embossed buckle. There were cascading pleats on front and back of the skirt. It ended at my knees. For my shoes I took my beige patent leather pumps with open toe, metal bow on vamp, where Prada logo was engraved, and covered geometric heel. I paired everything with a white beautiful handbag. Needless to say everything was of Prada make.

"Somebody is in a good mood today." My brother laughed at me when I was at his side but I didn't care. Mounting my beauty I felt even luckier because my skirt was wide enough to ride my motorcycle without any problems or inconveniences.

It was heavily cloudy so the ride was chilly but nothing could ruin my day today, I smiled to myself. When we entered the parking lot we once again drew the attention of all the present public. I didn't care and walked to Maths with Angie. We were both excited about the upcoming concert tonight.

Despite some staring people my lessons till lunch flew taintless. I liked the day and I was having a good time even though I was at school. It was nothing different when the lunch came. I entered the lunchroom and I didn't know why it was important for me but I noticed that today all the tables were taken. I made my way to Angie.

"Hello!" I was so emotional.

"Hello…" She was surprised to see me like this.

"No changes in plans for tonight?" I was smiling.

"I am sure there are none in yours." She chuckled at my enthusiasm. "I will be waiting for you in my place."

"And no problems whatsoever?" I slowly and slightly shook my head.

"As long as Gediminas comes with us my parents have no problems with me going out. My sister will stay at home alone." She laughed at my squirming.

As everything today the next class came slowly but it did come. It was English literature and I was sitting with _it_. Once again we both decided to ignore each other. It was the easiest and least painful way. Today we were going to say dialogues from Romeo and Juliet. I was the lucky one because I had been excused from this assignment and wouldn't have to embarrass myself in front of everybody else.

The lesson was someway a bit irritating. Was it really so difficult for my classmates to learn a few lines and say them loudly without making a ton of mistakes?! Then, for the first time that I could remember, the teacher addressed _it_.

"**And now we will listen to a part of the dialogue between Romeo and Juliet in the balcony scene that we have already analyzed. Mr. Cullen?"** The teacher had left this part for _it_ and some girl because she wanted the best performance of the scene. _It_ just glanced over the room looking for the girl that _it_ was supposed to act with. I sighed in a little amusement and irritation because of course _it_ couldn't find her. Apparently she was not in the class. **"Edward Cullen, are you ready?"** _It_ looked back at the teacher and tensed up. **"Miss Everson has been sick for more than a week and you didn't manage to find a new partner for this performance?"** Looks like the teacher had been waiting for quite some time to get her hands on _it_… **"I have excepted a lot of projects for all those times you didn't feel up to acting and this was the first time you were supposed to perform in front of the class. And now you are telling me that you are not ready? If you will not show me the scene now then I hope that detention today after lessons will help you learn some responsibility."** _It_ felt hopeless. Looks like_ it_ was supposed to leave with most of _its_ family for hunting just after this class. I was in such a good mood before this and I didn't like the way the teacher was acting. It was as if she had been waiting all along to yell and embarrass _it_ in front of the others and show everybody that she was the best and knew everything better than anyone else. I didn't like it. I guess I will never understand why I did what I did next… Maybe it was an instinct or something my Mom had put in my blood during the years of my childhood..? **"So, are you ready or not?"** She asked impatiently, clearly expecting a negative answer.

"We are ready." I said loudly in a determined way and instantly got everybody's eyes on myself.

"We are?" _It _said in more of a question than a statement like manner.

Naturally, only then I understood what I had done but I had no way to retreat. There was just one way and it was leading forward. I took a deep breath and looked at _it_. Now we were together in this game. _It_ liked the idea and got up offering me a hand. I ignored it and made my way to the front of the room.

Even now the teacher couldn't believe her eyes but at least she walked to the back of the class giving us our space. She was sure one of us was going to make a mistake and then she will have her own way with _it._ How wrong she was. I was back in my today's mood and stood a little aside because it was not for me to start the scene.

"Scene II. Capulet's orchard." The teacher stated aloud. "Let's see what you can do with it." I swear I could hear her whisper the last sentence.

Edward was standing in front of the class a bit to the right from the middle.

"He jests at scars that never felt a wound."

I walked to the middle of the class's front.

"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" He continued.

"It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

That thou her maid art far more fair than she.

Be not her maid, since she is envious.

Her vestal livery is but sick and green,

And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.

It is my lady; O, it is my love!

O that she knew she were!

She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?

Her eye discourses; I will answer it.

I am too bold; 'tis not to me she speaks.

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

Having some business, do entreat her eyes

To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars

As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven

Would through the airy region stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!

O that I were a glove upon that hand,

That I might touch that cheek!"

"Ay me!" It was my turn to speak. Even if it was only a word.

"She speaks." He went on with his lines.

"O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art

As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,

As is a winged messenger of heaven

Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes

Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him

When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds

And sails upon the bosom of the air." I could feel him shining with love he still felt for Mom. Now it was my turn.

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name!

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet." Why did I get myself into this mess..?

"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?" _It _was still standing a few steps aside.

"'Tis but thy name that is my enemy." I continued.

"Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;

And for that name, which is no part of thee,

Take all myself." I tried imagining saying these words to the one who was the friend of _my_ soul but somehow it didn't fit…

"I take thee at thy word." It was _its _turn to move.

"Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd;

Henceforth I never will be Romeo."

"What man art thou that, thus bescreen'd in night,

So stumblest on my counsel?"

"By a name" _its _words were full of love and it felt wrong calling him a creature.

"I know not how to tell thee who I am.

My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,

Because it is an enemy to thee.

Had I it written, I would tear the word." I could feel his pain and I didn't like that I had caused some of it. After all I didn't want to be like him.

"My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words

Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound.

Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?"

"Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike." He felt sorry for all that he had done wrong to Mom.

"How cam'st thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?

The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,

And the place death, considering who thou art,

If any of my kinsmen find thee here."

"With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls;" He was determined.

"For stony limits cannot hold love out,

And what love can do, that dares love attempt.

Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me."

"If they do see thee, they will murther thee." I had to concentrate on my lines not to make a mistake.

"Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye" He paid his attention to the lines as well and I felt grateful for it. I was only _half _a vampire after all.

"Than twenty of their swords! Look thou but sweet,

And I am proof against their enmity."

"I would not for the world they saw thee here." Because my family might kill me for seeing you, I thought playing with the lines.

"I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight;" He didn't like my thoughts and I dropped them.

"And but thou love me, let them find me here.

My life were better ended by their hate

Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love." Oh, and he could be trusted with his words, I almost snorted.

"By whose direction found'st thou out this place?"

"By love, that first did prompt me to enquire." Could he love at all?

"He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes." Of course you lent him eyes. You have no heart.

"I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far" he concentrated on his love for Mom and the feeling flooded me.

"As that vast shore wash'd with the farthest sea," Alright..! I knew he could feel that…

"I would adventure for such merchandise." But it still didn't give him a right to act the way he did towards Mom. He winced ever so slightly that it went unnoticed by the others but not by me.

"Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face;

Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek

For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night.

Fain would I dwell on form- fain, fain deny

What I have spoke; but farewell compliment!

Dost thou love me, I know thou wilt say 'Ay';

And I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear'st,

Thou mayst prove false. At lovers' perjuries,

They say Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,

If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.

Or if thou thinkest I am too quickly won,

I'll frown, and be perverse, and say thee nay,

So thou wilt woo; but else, not for the world.

In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond,

And therefore thou mayst think my haviour light;

But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true

Than those that have more cunning to be strange.

I should have been more strange, I must confess,

But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware,

My true-love passion. Therefore pardon me,

And not impute this yielding to light love,

Which the dark night hath so discovered." My words were sickeningly sweet to me.

"Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear," He felt like chuckling at my thoughts.

"That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-"

"O, swear not by the moon, th' inconstant moon,

That monthly changes in her circled orb,

Lest that thy love prove likewise variable." My words almost made me sick now.

"What shall I swear by?" he was amused. Just great!

"Do not swear at all;" You cannot keep your word anyway.

"Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self," Which wouldn't be a pain to loose.

"Which is the god of my idolatry,

And I'll believe thee." Did I just actually say these words to him?

"If my heart's dear love-" He could hardly suppress his smile.

"Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee," There is no use of it because you do not follow it.

"I have no joy of this contract to-night.

It is too rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden;

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be

Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night!

This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flow'r when next we meet.

Good night, good night! As sweet repose and rest

Come to thy heart as that within my breast!" Only then I remembered we were not alone in here. My male audience's lust overwhelmed me and for the first time since I met him I liked his response as he quietly growled at all those disgusting thoughts though I wasn't his to protect and that was not going to change.

"O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" Unsatisfied? What else did he want? Oh, right. Those were his lines… And what were mine?

"What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?" He relaxed. I wasn't that hopeless!

"Th' exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine." Once again I felt his love for Mom flood me.

"I gave thee mine before thou didst request it;

And yet I would it were to give again."

"Would'st thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?"

"But to be frank and give it thee again.

And yet I wish but for the thing I have.

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee,

The more I have, for both are infinite." I was doing my best to mute all the thoughts and feelings around me.

"I hear some noise within. Dear love, adieu!

Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true.

Stay but a little, I will come again." I ended as if I was making a promise.

The dialogue was finally finished and we turned for our audience. Everybody applauded and cheered while we walked back to our table. The teacher was astonished.

"And yet you left." I said quietly just for him to hear. He winced at this.

"There is more than meets the eye." He answered under his breath. Now he got me confused.

"Not bad at all…" The teacher started making comments on our acting and what we should improve. Not that I cared. I was more interested in what I felt.

I always liked helping the others. It made me feel better, happier. And it wasn't something new. But his feelings were confusing. I could understand gratefulness. I did save him from detention after all. But surprise and that little disbelief I felt in him insulted me. I was half _a human_! How could he think that I would not help the one who was in need when it was so easily done?!

When the bell rang the lesson was over. I was glad about that. I spent entire P.E. thinking about the friends I was going to see again. That improved my mood considerably. When I finally got home I had an evening to get ready for!

**

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**

**Thank you for reading. Sorry for the layout of the dialogue from Romeo and Juliet, I couldn't make it look normal. **

**Just to make sure, don't let yourselves be fooled into thinking that a few sunrays through thick clouds mean a sunny day. Adrian and Gediminas are teenagers so usually things are only black or white for them. And things especially like these don't change over a night.**

** Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. I have the main plot but I could easily put in some short scenes if you want something specific. Just let me know.**


	15. Angie

**The show goes on...  
**

**As always, thank you all for your reviews. It makes my day.**

**Enjoy reading!**

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By the time I got home it was heavily cloudy but not raining. Yet. I hoped it would stay like this at least until we got to the club. As usually, Grandpa was still at work. I threw my schoolbag who-knows-where and went to the bathroom. I took a long, hot and relaxing bath. It felt so good… I was meeting Angie after a little more than an hour so I had time but not enough to waste it. I washed my hair and made it curly. Then I got out and opened my wardrobe.

I pushed aside all the normal, practical and comfortable clothes till I got to the ones I rarely ever gave a thought. It wasn't difficult to find the dress I was looking for. It had cap sleeves, a scoop neck, a v-neck on the back and a zip closure on the back. It was navy blue and ruffled through out its all length. It ended at my knees. I chose dark blue pumps for my shoes. They were made of patent leather, had four-inch-heels and little bows on top and open toes. I also put on a necklace made of sterling silver with a lobster clasp and a dark blue and golden Murano glass pendant. It was handmade by a friend. I dug out my navy blue Prada wallet. Then I took my black leather jacket only for a ride to Angie's home. I was going to leave it in my beauty's saddlebag.

When I got downstairs Gediminas was typing something in the living room still in the clothes he had worn all day at school. I didn't like that to say the least.

"Don't worry. I'll be ready when the time comes." He just waved his hand dismissively by his side.

"We are leaving for Angie's in five minutes." He was becoming irritating.

"There is no point for me to go there so early." My brother was continuing to look at his laptop's screen. "The concert begins at eight. It means the fun will start a quarter past eight at best. We will leave eight twenty and we will still have plenty of time there." At least now he was looking in my eyes. "Go. I'll be at your friend's place just before we leave for the club." At he stared back at the screen. What was he so interested in? He just closed his laptop and went upstairs. "Have a good ride."

The evening was heavily cloudy but thankfully not raining yet. It took me more than fifteen minutes of my driving to find Angie's place. But when I did, I could hardly believe my eyes. Angie has always been so simple, nice, a bit shy, wearing average-looking clothes at school and now seeing her house I couldn't understand that. It was… Let's just say that if the Cullens' house was big then this one was huge! It had three floors plus attic, maybe six windows on both sides of the front door and it was built of stones with wooden details. The stones were dark gray, the wood was oak and the roof was dark brown. It was all surrounded by amazingly tall trees. The view was astonishing! I stopped just outside the front doors and stood there admiring that wonderful and obviously old but well kept house.

Angie was standing by my side with her brows furrowed in incomprehension when I finally managed to take my eyes off of her home. I smiled guiltily and she invited me to come in. I followed her and when we were inside, I was once more astounded by the view. There were huge oak stairs leading to the next floor, a small but subtle statue on the tiny table at their bottom. There were corridors with clearly many rooms on both my left and right. My friend was crimson red because of my glances around.

A girl was standing half way up the stairs leaning onto handrails. She seemed to be younger than Angie by a year or so. It must be her sister. She was thin but good-looking with long dark brown hair. She was in black jeans and red shirt.

"Hello! I'm Maria." She smiled and I smiled back.

"Hello." I raised my eyebrows. She was not as shy as her sister. "My name is Adrian."

"And you do not respond to any kind of nicknames or short forms." She almost laughed in recognition. Angie must have told her about me.

"None at all." I nodded amused. I could feel we will get along just fine.

"Why don't we go to my room?" Angie interjected embarrassed and walked up the stairs. I once again followed her admiring the interior. Her room was stylish. Everything was made of dark wood. Oak, I strongly suspected. Her four-poster bed was by the middle of the left wall, a huge desk stood by the further wall right in front of enormous windows with wooden shutters. There was also an empty easel in the left corner by the end table. There were two wardrobes and a commode by the right wall. They were open and I could see that they were stocked with really fine clothes. The one on the very left contained shelves whereas the middle one was only for hanging clothes.

"Why don't you ever wear any of these clothes for school?" I asked in surprise. Prada, Gucci, D&G, Versace were the last brands I expected to see in my friend's wardrobe. Then again, considering the house she was living in…

"Because it's school… Not a fashion show." She didn't understand my raised eyebrows. She took something from her attire and made her way to the bathroom through the doors on my right. Just then I noticed Maria sitting on the bed. She wasn't in a good mood.

"How was your day?" I wanted to be nice.

"Not bad…" she said sheepishly.

"She got A with plus today from Mathematics' test." I heard Angie yelling. Maria just shrugged.

"Then I guess you deserve congratulations. Maybe even a celebration." I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh, yes. And I am celebrating by staying here all alone on Friday night." She answered grumpily. I had an idea.

"Do you have your parents' number?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Yes, yes. I know, if something happens call them and not you." She rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you call them now and tell them you are going out with us tonight?" I suggested. Her eyes widened in surprise and disbelief. "That is, of course, if you want to go." She started bouncing. "How long do you need to get ready?" I chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Maria, don't even think about it! The tickets are way too expensive." I could hear Angie still in the bathroom. Maria stopped dead.

"Don't worry about it." I shook my head. "We have a spare one anyway." She smiled to me and darted through the doors.

"Why did you invite her?" Angie finally came out of the bathroom in her full tonight's outfit. She was wearing a black sleeveless mini dress that ended at her knees. It had an empire waist and plunging v-neck with pleating at her bust. It was all pleated. She had simple black stiletto pumps on her feet with grained metallic leather piping and stacked five inches stiletto heels. She did look great! But she was waiting for my answer to some question. What was it..? Oh, right.

"Well it was a choice to have Gediminas over-protectively baby-sitting us or her. So take a pick." She nodded in understanding. My friend shuffled through her jewelry box but decided to put nothing on.

We went downstairs when Maria joined us. Her top was bright red with wide shoulder straps and ruched waist. The neckline was plunging v-type with pleating at bust. The black skirt was short and ended about five inches above her knees. Its back was lace-up and there was a zip-button fly. Her slides were also bright red with open toe and made of patent leather. Looks like somebody wanted to draw a lot of attention tonight, I almost chuckled. Angie rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance. She obviously disapproved of her sister's choice for clothes and was going to make it clear.

Just then we heard a motorcycle approaching and went outside to greet him. Gediminas stopped right in front of us and took off his helmet.

"Wow! You never told me he was a model." Maria whispered to her sister. My brother? A model? Was she joking? On the other hand… I guess he didn't look so bad tonight.

He was wearing white long-sleeved shirt with wide straight collar and curved hem. It was not tight but it did look like a second skin to him. And making the girls at my side almost squeal, he had his black Emporio Armani suit on. It was simple looking but obviously designer-made with all the stitches perfectly made and just where they had to be. His shoes were black and polished to perfection. They were simple as everything he wore but also stylish and seemed to be created just for him. The shoes were made of leather and classical except for Velcro closures making them look youthful. Well, I have certainly seen him look worse, I shrugged.

"Hello. I'm Gediminas." He waited a moment for my friends to register him speaking. Exasperatedly he glanced at me. "Ready to go?"

"Angie? You have mentioned your car?" my friend looked at me dumbfounded gathering herself together. I waited patiently.

"Oh, right. I'll be right back." she murmured embarrassed and darted to the garage somewhere further in the darkness.

Five minutes later Maria was still looking my brother up and down. Even with his shields on I could feel his irritation. Finally Angie came to view sitting in a laser red Saab 9-3. I had to admit it was a beautiful and catchy car. She stopped right in front of us preventing her sister from drooling over my brother. I kind of felt pity to him and got in the car.

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**Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. The next chapter happens in the music club. **

**Let me know what you think or want to happen there.**


	16. Apollo

**The show goes on...  
**

**As always, thank you all for your reviews. It makes my day.**

**Last time I got a question how to pronounce Gediminas. GE (GEt) - DI (DIg) - MI (MIni) - N - AS (ASpect). Hope this answers.**

**Enjoy reading!**

**

* * *

Adrian's POV**

As soon as we arrived at the club, I could see people waiting outside to get in. We had invitations so we made our way for the entrance at once. Angie and Maria widened their eyes when they saw the envelope in my hands. We were let in without a single problem or even a question, just with a wish of good evening.

It was dimly lit inside and smoky. There were a lot of people but it wasn't crowded. One of the staff guys took us to our table. I suppose those were one the best seats in here because we could see the entire scene easily but we were not sitting near any of the loudspeakers.

When we entered my friends were already on stage. They all looked like eighteen but their eyes screamed that, though they were friendly, they were not to be messed up with. Amiran was singing. After all, his name meant 'my nation is a song'. He was quite slim and medium-height. His hair was completely white and his clothes were of very light blue silk. He was also playing his guitar. Ranit was holding her microphone too. She was about the same height as Amiran but thinner. Her hair was copper and her attire was bright red. Fortiss was behind his drums. He was tall but didn't look like one. His hair was dark gray, almost black, and he was wearing all shades of gray. Egardus was playing his bass. His hair was very dark blue and he was dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans. Assai was behind the keyboard. His clothes and his hair were dark gray as well. Their Russian accent was barely noticeable even for me let alone the others.

"… _But when you're here _

_Josephine _

_the stars don't shine so bright _

_But You with me _

_Josephine _

_You'd never sleep at night _

_My Josephine _

_I'm dreaming of you _

_Are you dreaming it too _

_I'm dreaming of you _

_I scream your name."_

I liked the song. It was Josephine and it used to be one of my favorite ones.

"I thought you loved _me _?!" Ranit said into her microphone in an insulted manner after she finished singing.

"To love you?!" Amiran widened his eyes as if in fear. "But you would burn me alive!" he screamed over the public.

"I am not that hot…" I could feel warmth starting to radiate from her. "...or cruel…" she seemed to start blushing.

"I am not that much suicidal to fall for this." Amiran yelled playfully looking at her. "So this is who we are. Fire and ice." He said to the crowd at his feet. They were all engulfed in smoke. I could see his skin turning ice white and the fumes around him becoming white and light blue. Terrible cold was radiating from him. Ranit's skin was too rosy for normal human and all the fumes surrounding her were red. It would have been too hot to be near her. On the other hand there was no smoke near the guys at the back, only a slight wind blowing from their direction. The drums blasted and guitars joined in.

Amiran: _Ooo, you're givin me the fever tonight_

_I don't wanna give in_

_I'd be playin with fire._

Ranit: _You forget, I've seen you work before_

_Take `em straight to the top_

_Leave `em cryin for more._

_I've seen you burn `em before._

Everybody:

_Fire and ice_

_You come on like a flame_

_Then you turn a cold shoulder._

_Fire and ice_

_I wanna give you my love_

_But you'll just take a little piece of my heart._

Ranit: _You'll just tear it apart…_

I liked the song but I had already heard it before.

"I am going to the bar. Anybody wants anything to drink?" I asked looking at my brother and friends.

"Orange juice would be great." Angie shouted.

"No, thanks." Gediminas murmured fully aware that screaming was unnecessary for my hearing.

"I don't know. I'm not sure..." Maria had been too much engrossed in music to think about anything else.

"Then I will be back in a few minutes." I said to no one in particular and left for the bar.

I saw Edward sitting at the bar and whispering something into some girl's ear. She was clearly a human and looked like a stuffed sausage painted like a clown. They were flirting. I approached.

"...Tomorrow here at the same time?" she raised her eyebrows looking at him.

"Of course. I will be waiting for you." He smiled at her and she left. I rolled my eyes.

"Two fresh orange juice." I told the barman. Edward looked at me. A few minutes later I got my order and before leaving turned to him. "Another trophy on your wall and a potential member to a broken hearts club?" I raised my eyebrows at him and left for my table before he could say a word to me. The song was about to end.

Ranit: …_You come on like a flame_

_Then you turn a cold shoulder._

_Fire and ice._

Amiran:_ You come on like a flame_

_Then you turn a cold shoulder._

_Fire and ice._

The crowd screamed. And my friends turned to the humanly normal colors.

"Okay, Amiran, stop kissing the microphone." Ranit hissed into hers.

"Would you like for me to kiss you?" he raised his eyebrows at her. I chuckled but paid my attention because I had never heard this part of their program before.

"Yuk! No!" my old friend made a disgusted face and all the people laughed. "Why don't you do the job we are supposed to do while in here?"

"Which one do you mean?" He raised his eyebrows again in question. "Your boyfriend paid me to try and kiss you…" He was thoughtful but Ranit looked insulted.

"The message…" she murmured into her microphone exasperatedly.

"Oh, right!" Good memory never was Amiran's trait. Except for his songs, that is. He turned for the people in front of him. "Our friend asked us to be the messengers of his heart as, because of a very stubborn girl, he couldn't come along. And since the recipient is here…" He winked looking at me and I despite myself blushed a little. I didn't understand that or his words. "… Let us present you the love so strong that I never believed it was possible to exist till I heard this song myself." He strummed his guitar and the new song started.

Ranit:_ Tell me if you got a problem _

_Tell me if it's in your way _

_Tell me if there's something bothering you _

_Tell me what should I say. _

Amiran:_ You know I'd do almost anything _

_You know I'd change the world _

_You know I'd do almost anything for my little girl. _

Ranit:_ Tell me if you got a problem _

_Tell me now what's inside _

_Show me if you broke your heartstrings. _

Amiran:_ You know you never need to hide _

_You know I'd do almost anything _

_You know I'd paint the sky _

_You know I 'd do almost anything for you my guiding light._

Everybody: _You're my Star shining on me now _

_A love from worlds apart I need for you, _

_You are my shining star, my star _

_A love from worlds apart I need for you, _

_You are my shining star. _

Amiran: _Once upon a time a memory _

_Once upon a time a girl _

_Once upon a time a perfect life _

_Once upon a perfect world _

Ranit: _You know I'd do almost anything _

_For you my guiding light _

_You know I'd do almost everything_

_To keep you in my life. _

Everybody: _You're my Star shining on me now _

_A love from worlds apart. I need for you, _

_You are my shining star, my star _

_A love from worlds apart. I need for you, _

_You are my shining star. _

Amiran: _Just a memory _

_Every dream is of you and me. _

_If I wish upon a star, _

_Well I hope that's where you are. _

Ranit: _When Heavens turn, _

_You know you'll shine you're in my heart for all time _

_When Heaven turns, you know you'll shine in worlds apart. _

Everybody: _Cause yeah you are my Star [shining on me now].  
_

_A love from worlds apart. I need for you, _

_You are my shining star, my star _

_A love from worlds apart. I need for you, _

_You are my shining star, _

_shining on me now. _

_A love from worlds apart. I need for you, _

_You are my shining star._

I had never heard this song before and I loved it. When I turned back to our table Gediminas was gone. Maybe he wanted something to drink? Another song started and I was too busy to think about my brother.

**Gediminas' POV**

When Adrian turned from the bar I felt her mood was not as good as before. Why did Edward have to come here? And especially tonight of all the nights. Maria was about to say something.

"Maybe I would like some orange juice too..? But I think I forgot my purse in the car." She finally made up her mind.

"Don't worry. I'll get them for you." I murmured not sure if she heard me and left for the bar.

Edward was still sitting there with a chaos in his mind. His family was annoying him by either remembering our Mom or making innuendoes that he should go out and find at least something to do. Looks like there was no use of it because he kept comparing all the girls to Bella and everything reminded him of her, making him even more miserable. Tonight's girl was no exception. He met her for the first time and was sure it was going to be their last meeting. Thankfully Adrian was absorbed into some new song so I had plenty of time before she noticed what I was doing.

"Fresh orange juice and passion me." I told the barman and sat at the bar.

_I don't understand her. _He put his mind into enough of an order for me to comprehend him. I would have looked strange by talking to myself and not everything could be said aloud therefore I had to do the hardest thing I rarely ever did, tear down my walls. He felt my mind open to him and was glad he had my attention. _One moment she helps me and the next one she snaps at me. _He was confused.

_You should feel lucky she is talking to you at all. _I sighed. _Honestly, I had never thought this would ever happen._ I wasn't glad seeing both of them like this but it was his fault rather than hers. Unpleasant things tend to come back even so many years later.

_Why?_ He couldn't understand? _I am her father and now that Bella is gone she needs other family._

_Exactly right! Adrian saw our mother go through hell more than once, put her life and all the other people aside just to take care after us. As far as my sister is concerned you were never there for not only us but for Mom as well._

_I didn't know about you. _He was trying to find an excuse that neither my sister nor I needed.

_No matter how much it hurt her she could forgive you the part about us, but she will never forgive you for all the pain you caused our Mom. _He wanted everything to come easily but life wasn't easy or fair. I sighed again. _She has been fueling her hatred for you for years and you want it gone in what? Months? Weeks? Days?! _I raised my eyebrows at him._ She knows that I will always be there for her. We are very strong together. _I took a breath. This wasn't easy to talk about. _Her anger for you will subside in time. But if you do nothing to help it or if you worsen it, then don't be surprised one day when you find out that you don't exist for her._ I was glad he could read my mind. I wasn't sure if I could have said those words aloud.

_I loved your mom. _I wasn't interested in whether that was true or not.

_Then show that to my sister in all the ways you can find. Then show her that again, again and again. And then show her that a thousand times more. She is too far into feeling to look for reasons. _He finally saw that saying that he was sorry and he loved us wasn't enough. We were not his Bella. She saw all the pain through the glass of love. We, on the other hand, saw everything through the glass of our dearest Mom's excruciating pain and our own hatred. My sister was our heart and I had to be the voice of mind in this matter.

_And what about you? You don't seem to be angry? _He wanted to know my position in this mess.

_You want me to be angry? _I raised my eyebrows. He shrugged. This was difficult enough for him to play and he just wanted an answer. _Why don't you choose? We can be strangers and start from nothing. Just the way that we actually are since I know very little about you and you don't know anything about me._

_Don't you hate me at all? _It was incomprehensible for him that, considering my sister's feelings to him, I was completely indifferent towards the matter.

_You want anger… _I nodded. _I can give you that if you truly want it. _I completely tore down all my walls revealing the way I felt all those years seeing my sister growing up without a father and my Mom doing the job she hated just to barely get by. Edward tensed up. It was too much for him to ever be ready to deal with. I smirked. I knew it long before today.

_Strangers will be great. _He needed all his strength to say it. I almost chuckled. I let my walls grow up again leaving only my outer mind unshielded to talk to him. He relaxed at once. _What are you doing here anyway? _He frowned and I didn't understand his question. _This is not a place for kids like you. You are too young and inexperienced to be around so many humans. What if someone gets a cut, even a small one? Or if there is a fight and somebody hits you? _I could hardly believe what I had heard. He was actually giving me a lecture about self-control and appropriate behavior.

_If you truly want to know, the people on the stage are our friends. We met them a couple of years ago. _He didn't like that. He actually thought we were not supposed to be so close to any other kind but ours. As if there was anybody else of our kind… _If you want to know more, some of the songs they are singing are your daughter and son's favorite ones. _This reminded him of how little he knew about us.

_It's too late for you to hang around in here. _

_If you don't want us around in here than give us a list of places where you go and you won't see us there. _It wasn't his business where we spent our free time.

_It is not safe for children. _Children? We were no children long ago. And he is telling me about safety? I am not the one who messed around with the Volturi and needed our Mom to come to rescue! And I have seen worse… We knew well how to take care after each other!_ Does Charlie even know you are here? _Did he really think we would lie to the only other family we had?! I suppose just then I truly understood how different we were. _Don't you have homework to do? _It was his last resort to lecture me as if he was my father and I had no patience left with him. The barman gave me my order and I left building my walls back and without a second glance towards him.

**Adrian's POV**

The first part ended and Gediminas came back with drinks for him and Maria. There was something in his look but I couldn't quite put it. My monologue was interrupted by a certain person coming to us. I was glad I would get a chance to talk to him.

"Hello guys!" Egardus shouted.

"Hello." We all murmured in response. Maria and Angie were surprised to see him come to us. I guess I have forgotten to tell them that the guys were my old friends…

"Enjoying the evening I hope." He unnecessarily asked. My two newest friends blushed at the attention. Why were all the people around staring at us?

"Yes, of course. Well, I do enjoy seeing you because your singing hasn't improved even a little bit since our last meeting all that time ago…" I trailed off. Gediminas chuckled lightly, the girls looked shocked at my words and I could hardly suppress my smile. "What's with the new song and winking at me?"

"Right! I almost forgot!" Was all his response for he refused to answer my question. How typical of him… And annoying! "I have a few questions of my own for you." He was looking at me and I for some reason didn't like that look at all.

"Go ahead…" I wasn't going to escape this anyway.

"Firstly, how is your health? No problems with the humidity or food or anything else of that matter?" Why was he interested in that?!

"I am absolutely healthy, thank you for asking." I frowned.

"Secondly…" He seemed thoughtful. "How is your relationship with Charlie? I mean, your grandfather."

"Perfect. We are getting along just fine." I raised my eyebrows for those were definitely not the questions I expected from him.

"Thirdly, I can see you have found new friends… So that question seems to be answered." Angie and Maria looked embarrassed and I wished I could help them.

"This is Angie and this is Maria. Angie is my schoolmate." I said showing towards each of them with my hand.

"Great. Nice to meet you." Egardus seemed like he honestly cared. "Next… How are the guys here?"

"Terrible, if you ask me." Gediminas answered instead of me because I had no idea what to say. "But then again, it's not like she notices them the way you meant to ask…" What was he talking about? What way?

"Interesting but understandable and I suppose could have been expected…" My old friend nodded. What were they talking about? "I guess that's all that was on the list…" he trailed off. What list?! "Will you come sing with us? Just one song. It is yours after all. And it is not that different from singing in the studio." He looked at me. What studio was he talking about? I could not understand him. "Come on, we have the keyboard, or you can take Amiran's guitar. I am sure he would love that." He honestly meant what he said.

"I can't sing. I don't sing." I frowned looking at the table. Angie and Maria were glancing between the two of us.

"We all know you can! We have heard you do it." Egardus shrugged. WHAT?! I snapped out of my daze and stared at him. My brother could hardly suppress his smile. "Don't tell me you didn't know…" He trailed off. "Then I guess you are completely oblivious to everything around you when you sing and play." Now he turned his eyes sheepishly at my brother. I hated that smile on his face.

"The glass was shaded from her side." My brother said to our friend as if explaining something. Wait?! Did they see and hear me sing when I was with them?! They were supposed to be doing something else at the time and I thought I was alone there! That's so humiliating… And of course Gediminas told me nothing about that. What a brother..! At least now he had the decency to look at his coffee.

"Right…" Egardus nodded slowly understanding what he had just blurted out. The secret had stood for over three years, maybe even more... The girls were surprised and confused a little. "Will you all hang around after the concert? The guys would love to talk to you." He looked at Gediminas, too afraid to lay his eyes on me.

"No." My brother shook his head. "We promised our grandfather that we won't stay out late. We will listen to a song or two and then we have to head back home."

"It's too bad. Well, I guess it is high time I got back to my group. The brake will be over in a few minutes anyway." He took a breath. "Good night. I hope you enjoy the evening." He said goodbye to the girls and they nodded to him still speechless from the conversation. I couldn't blame them, I learnt something new myself.

The next song started in mere moments. It was mine but it was a sad one.

"Some time ago we lost a very dear person to leukaemia. This song was written by our friend. It is for all of those who have lost or is about to lose somebody to an illness. We have seen how difficult it is and our heats go out to everybody who has such experience." Ranit said honestly, beginning the second half of their concert and instantly getting everybody's attention. The drums, guitar and keyboard started their job.

Amiran_: She saw the world through her smile._

_When she held your hand you knew it'd be all right._

_She spoke of places she'd never been._

Ranit_: "Now is the time",_

Amiran_: she'd say, _

Ranit_: "to live the dream"._

Amiran_: And she told us how she could fly. _

_And she said _

Ranit_: "no need for goodbyes". _

Amiran_: For we'd see her there in the skies_

Ranit_: where angels fly, Angels Fly…_

I liked the way they performed my song, their duet was wonderful. The song was just too sad for me today.

"Hello. Would you like to have this dance with me?" a polite and unfamiliar voice said at my side. I turned to him and saw a guy in his eighteen's or so looking at me with a friendly smile. He was rather tall with quite short dark tousled hair. He was wearing simple white shirt and black trousers.

"Why not." I shrugged and went to the dance floor with him.

We swirled and twirled. It felt nice to dance with him. I liked that he was so good at it. A minute later I turned around and he got closer to my back. We moved like that for a while. He gently put his hands on my waist. Just the way my friends used to do while teaching me how to relax and actually dance. I stretched my hands up in the air and he put his on mine. That felt strange, nobody ever did this before. But then again, I never was in a place like this in America…

The song ended and we all stopped dancing to applaud my friends. I turned to the guy. Then he did what I did not expect. He kissed me into lips! And I am not talking about a friendly peck! It was so passionate and more of clinging like a leech! I pulled back at once.

"Don't!" I slapped him easily and carefully not to break his bones but still making him get my point. "I came here for dancing. If you want a wife, go snog with them." I hissed at him much to his surprise and showed with my hand towards the girls standing and getting bored by the wall. Nobody ever kisses me! Except for one person, who was not my brother, and even he was not allowed anything more than a peck on my cheek on special occasions! I turned around and walked back to the table leaving the guy standing alone on the dance floor too astounded even to move. I could see Angie was shocked by my behavior and wanted to say something but I had no interest in that. I was too disgruntled to listen.

"Do I really look that bad?" I asked coming to my friends and brother before they could mouth a word.

"You look wonderful." Angie couldn't believe I had any doubts about my outfit.

"You must be kidding! You look just like them!" Maria blurted out nodding towards all the _beautiful and sexy_ girls standing along the wall. I could feel that she didn't mean the way I got it but I still couldn't help but wince at that. To look like some woman of easy virtue… It was one of my biggest and most terrible fears! Gediminas understood my question and reaction.

"Well, I am not giving you my jacket right now but before we leave… Let's just say, I think it will be too cold for you outside." He nodded slightly to me in encouragement. My friends couldn't understand him but I did. Though it helped only a little. I sighed and turned to the stage. The band started singing another song but I wanted to go home. It had been a really long day. I felt a little tired and sleepy.

"How about we call it a night?" My brother smiled and got up. I was happy to have him. He wrapped me up in his jacket and we all left. My friends were also starting to feel tiredness. We got in the car, Gediminas mounted his motorcycle and we went home.

* * *

**Thank you for reading. ****Tell me what you liked and what you didn't.**

**The songs are_ Fire and Ice by Pat Benatar, _others are by_ Reamonn _in order of appearance: _Josephine, Star, Angels fly._  
**


	17. Nothing

**Here it goes on...**

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The weekend flew by in a glimpse. We went fishing with Grandpa and though we didn't catch much, it was funny and interesting. I didn't slip even once while talking so Gediminas helped me with the laundry when we got home. The next day was Monday again.

It was cloudy. I was not in a mood for dress-ups so I just took the first jeans and blouse that I laid my hands on. My sneakers were under my bed along with my schoolbag.

We got to school just before the bell therefore there was no time to chat with Angie. This week during Mathematics we were supposed to get ready for some important test next week. It wasn't a problem for me, I could have taken it even amid that lesson, but my friend had a different opinion. She got worried and trying to talk to her turned out to be a waste of time and effort. On the other hand, I did have plenty of time to ponder on my drafts.

Physics wasn't a better lesson but this time I was sitting at the back of the class so nobody saw or at least cared about what I did. They were all busy because apparently we were having quite a few tests the following week. Again, it wasn't something bothersome for me.

The drawing class was different because the Day of Arts had been postponed and we had over two weeks till the day of presentations. Our teacher gave us the best assignment he could think of, at least for me. We had to draw whatever we could think of with a single pencil. That is we were allowed to use only one color, whichever we chose. Gray being my favorite one I started at once. This time I remembered our skiing trip to mountains a few years ago. My friends almost started an avalanche that day, I chuckled remembering it. Maybe I was imagining it but this drawing class was the first one that Rosalie did not glare at me, on the contrary, her look seemed careful somehow… Anyway, the bell rang and I was through the doors before anyone else.

"Adrian. Wait." Rosalie called me just above the other students' voices. I stopped dead in my feat, but then left the building and stepped aside to wait for her.

"Hello." I gave her a friendly smile.

"Yeah, hi." She wasn't comfortable about something she was about to say. We started walking away from the majority of people, I guess she didn't want the others to overhear us. "The lesson was quite interesting."

"Not really. And it is not the reason why you called me." It wasn't a question. I got curious.

"I have heard you had a great Friday night…" she was looking for a way to delay some topic.

"Again, not the reason why you called me." Now I was really interested and starting to get suspicious.

"Listen." It wasn't easy for her to say it. "I know that you must be angry on me because of the way I treated Bella…" she was actually stuttering. Alice must have spent hours if not days convincing her to do this.

"Rosalie." I said loudly, some people not far from us glanced at me. "I am not angry on you." I shook my head. I lowered my voice so that only she could hear me. "On the contrary! I am grateful." Her eyes widened and she was speechless, I don't think that happens often. "You never lied to Mom. You were always truthful with her and showed her your true emotions. She always knew what to expect from you and you never disappointed her." Only when I said the last sentence I realized that it could have been understood in more than one way. "Mom used to feel sorry for intruding your family but…" I shrugged. "I understand all that you did and why you did it. You are a vampire and she was a human. You have a family and she was an outsider." I stopped for a moment. "He was your brother. You had a life and Mom was disrupting it…" I kept nodding while saying it to her shocked face. I would have continued talking if not Jasper.

"I don't understand." He sounded exasperated and tired. He came to us. I raised my eyebrows. "Your words are laced with anger, yet your emotions…"

"My emotions are just fine…" I trailed off. What was he talking about?

"Our words mirror the way we feel. Your words are full of poison, yet your feelings are beyond me." I waited for him to continue because I couldn't grasp his meaning. "I can hear you talking but I can feel nothing from you." This must have bothered him a lot because I had always thought of him as a quiet guy and now he just couldn't stop speaking. "And it is not like your brother, your emotions are not shielded. I can sense everything coming from you towards what surrounds you or what's on your mind. Except for us." And now I had to answer that?! I didn't even know the question!

"I am grateful, especially to you." I had no idea what to say. "You were always friendly to Mom and you never lied to her. You showed her the way you truly felt and you kept your distance. Mom thought of you as a true friend…"

"She must have never told you about her eighteenth birthday…" If a vampire could blush, he would have been crimson.

"She told us everything." I assured him and he seemed to get even more embarrassed. He really cared about what happened all those years ago! , unlike somebody else. It surprised me. "She felt sorry for that night." He raised his eyes in incredulity. "Mom thought of you as a friend. You were always true to her, kept your distance and never gave her false hope, yet you managed to be amicable." I smiled at him. The bell rang somewhere. "Sorry, I have to go. I'll see you around later, I guess." I turned away from them and ran to my History class. One more subject from which we had an upcoming test. This was getting annoying. Was I the only one who cared naught about such things?

The rest of the lessons and lunch were spent talking about the upcoming tests. Could they stop dreading? Those were tests we were talking about! Not some exams! I could all but roll my eyes every time the topic was brought up. Finally, the school was over and we headed home.

When we dismounted our beauties Gediminas chuckled at something.

"What?" I wanted to know the joke as well. He stopped for a moment.

"How was your day?" Irritating was my first thought. "And I don't mean lessons or talks about those tests." Was there anything else? He sighed nervously at my slow thinking. "After drawing…" He was giving me a hint. History was after drawing. "Before that." He murmured loosing interest. What was before that? Oh, right.

"It was fine." I shrugged.

"Did you know you are killing Jasper?" He almost laughed getting to business.

"What?" I quacked like a duck. I couldn't believe my ears.

"The guy survived a Civil war, somewhat about two centuries living among the vampires and humans." I knew that. "And _you_ are killing him! He hasn't known you even for a fortnight!" He laughed. I didn't like that because I couldn't understand him. "How do you feel about them? Him?"

"I am grateful..." And I had to understand the joke now?

"Exactly!" Somehow it didn't make things clearer…

"If you had to put your feelings to him in a scale from minus ten to plus ten, including zero. Where would you put it?" Longer explanation wasn't helpful either, at least for now.

"At zero, I guess." I said dubiously.

"Would you put it there?" He raised his eyebrows. "So you feel indifferent." He nodded.

"I don't feel indifferent. I don't feel anything to him." My eyebrows connected and I shrugged. "Except appreciation, that is."

"Precisely! Appreciation coming from you is a neutral emotion. It's an emotion of your mind, not your heart." It still wasn't absolutely clear. "The way you feel it, you can feel grateful towards both your friend and foe." He sighed.

"So?" Was there a point in here?

"Jasper cannot create emotions." That was not what I had heard. He growled tiredly. "He can suppress hatred, escalate admiration, replace disgust or anger with anything he wants. BUT he cannot create emotions where there are none!" He seemed pleased with himself for figuring this out. I still wasn't convinced. Gediminas was almost out of patience with me now. "Jasper will do anything and everything for Alice to make her happy and this time she wants to be close to us. But he has no way to make you like him or her because he cannot influence you. You have no emotions towards them, to her even less than to him. He wants to help his family but he is unable to change your attitude towards them because there is nothing to change and your anger to Edward is too much for him to handle. At least for the time being." It was clearer now… "As long as you are oblivious to them, you are untouchable for him." My brother smirked. Why did that make him so happy..? "He has been living among the vampires and humans for about two centuries and you are the first one to render him powerless. You found his only and the greatest weakness in less than two weeks!" He was proud of me. But that was not the way I felt. Actually, I don't even know how I felt.

"I think I will go and wash my beauty otherwise it won't be as amazing as it is supposed to be…" I trailed off leaving him. At least now I knew why Jasper was both irritated and interested in me.

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	18. I guess we could try this

**The story goes on...**

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**Enjoy reading!**

**

* * *

Gediminas' POV**

It has been a quiet week. Edward wasn't at school, the rest of the Cullens stayed away from us, even Adrian managed to stay out of any kind of problems or scenes. All was peaceful till Friday.

As every day I was awoken by my sister messing my hair. She went downstairs and I made my way to the bathroom. When I got out, I opened the drawers of commode, which were full of my clothes, and wardrobe. Let's see, simple white Giorgio Armani cotton shirt, midnight blue Christian Dior silk tie, white golden Raffaello tie clip.., fine, today I won't take a jacket or a waistcoat, but I will take a white cotton Armani Jeans jumper, going on, a pair of black Gucci trousers, and black Prada leather sneakers without any visible logos. Crystal Omega watch with croco embossed leather strap and stainless steel case already on my wrist. Almost forgot, a black leather S. T. Dupont schoolbag and I am ready to go.

I went downstairs to check my e-mails. There were a few asking translations and articles about races of F-1 and DTM but right now I wasn't interested in that. I did get a letter from friends asking for a song about love in a distance but I put it away for later. On the other hand, I might write it today or the next week because we were doing absolutely nothing interesting right now in school.

I got to my wheels and took them and Adrian's out in fresh air. She came to my side in a few moments and we drove to school.

Even there I managed to keep a low profile without attracting any attention. The teachers had gotten used to my silence and one- or two-word answers therefore it didn't bother them anymore. Most of the girls were still eyeing me up but my ignorance towards them was too much to be overcome easily. As usually I skipped lunch but only then did I notice that I had left my Physics' notebook in my locker. It had never happened before because there could hardly be a worse thing than a corridor full of emotional and loud teenagers. Unfortunately this time I had no other choice but to go in there and get my notebook. I took a deep breath and entered the building. My ears and mind almost exploded from all that noise! I needed one more breath and only then could I make my way for my locker. It took me just a moment to get what I needed but getting out was not as easy as coming in.

The minute I turned away from my locker two rather tall and well-built guys came to me. They had just had an idea to have some fun with me so I had had no warning or time to escape. The problem was not that they could seriously hurt me. The truth is, they were the only ones getting hurt in this. But if asked, how could I have explained their broken bones if they were the only ones throwing punches around? I was too slim and fragile-looking even to stay standing if they hit me. This was the worst part of pretending to be something I was not.

"Look who we have here." One said loudly. I put on my determined mask.

"The new guy." The second one chuckled. "He has been here for over a week and we haven't even greeted him properly."

"Thank you. I think I will pass on that." I smiled slightly and tried to back away from them but the first one cut me off with his arm putting it on the other lockers.

"I don't think so." He laughed. I sighed too silently for them to hear it. "We have so much to discuss and teach you." All he truly wanted was a fight. And a few of my bones broken if nobody got in a way. They would have also loved to see my nose bleeding.

Well the last one was definitely never going to happen because I don't bleed. My skin and veins were simply too strong to rupture. Broken bones, on the other hand, could have happened. Of course, an avalanche of rocks would have been needed and not some glass-like fragile fists. I had only heard about fights at school and how to deal with them. None of my friends or acquaintances were roughnecks. I had no experience with this kind of people. I guess I could have tried to dodge a few punches…

Whatever my plans were, it didn't come to that. I was surprised seeing Emmett approaching. Though only for a moment. He thought I need him and I couldn't take care after everything myself! But I did have a need to avoid a scene and the vampire wanted to help me so why not..?

"Problems?" the big guy frowned at the boys.

"We just wanted to show him around…" like all the rowdies they were cowards in front of the bigger ones. And Emmett's hand did look like a bear's on the tiny one. It was strange feeling their fear towards him. Emmett had always resembled more of a big child to me but now he seemed to be rather scary for the kids.

"I'll take care after that." The big guy finished the short conversation making sure there were no doubts that I was and will be defended. The boys slowly backed away and ran almost tripping out of the building.

"Thanks." I shrugged indifferently. I knew he could hear me and I wasn't sure how I should be feeling or acting towards him now. I did hate his family after all and he was never excluded from my thoughts because he was one of them. I had felt about him just like towards any other of them. Hatred, despise, anger, disappointment in a way… All the negative ones. Now it was a bit confusing… I could have easily pretended that he just wanted to keep the secret safe, but my ability to read minds told me otherwise. I hated that thought. How many times do I have to repeat to everybody that we are no children?!

It was only a one-time though, I was sure it didn't and won't change anything in the long run. I took my things and was about to leave.

"Sure." Emmett murmured. Now he was getting worried that he had kept Rosalie waiting for him. How Emmett-like… I almost smiled. He turned away and was the first one to leave. I followed him closely behind but once outside, turned for my Physics class' building.

The next two lessons were quiet and boring as usually. Except for two forms for our P.E. Adrian and I had to get signed by any doctor working in an emergency room in a hospital. I hoped that won't take long and decided to get it done today on my way back home. I took both of our slips and put them in my schoolbag. We only needed a signature and we were not expected to show any medical records to get it so why waste time…

I mounted my motorcycle and was in a hospital in less than ten minutes. When I approached the receptionist a young woman behind the desk turned her head towards me.

"Yes?" she raised her eyebrows. I was in no condition requiring medical attention, there were no new patients and she had never seen me before therefore my very being there surprised her.

"I am looking for a doctor on duty." She frowned in annoyance. Typically she thought I was a time-waster. "I need a signature for my P.E. at school." She nodded and decided to get rid of me by helping.

"Doctor Cullen is in his office. His lunch break just ended. Third door on your left down that corridor." She showed me through the nearest doors. Suddenly I wasn't so sure whether I wanted to get this done today. I had no wish of seeing any of them and I could have easily gotten the signature from another doctor tomorrow… Still, I slowly walked to the doors. I could hear Carlisle's thoughts in his office.

"_All the clinical records are in order. Maybe I should check on Mr. Nerot? Oh, I did that fifteen minutes ago…_" He was thinking about his job and this was not the busiest day in his career. I sighed. He was a doctor and I was something close to a patient… I took a breath. I needed a second before I knocked.

"_Maybe something interesting or urgent?" _He thought. "Come in." He didn't have to shout, I could hear him clearly. I tensed for a moment preparing myself to face him and opened the door slightly relaxing and entering the room.

"Good afternoon, sir." No matter the way I felt to him, manners were not to be forgotten.

"Gediminas?" He was surprised if not shocked. "Please come in. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, thank you." I smiled a bit, politely of course. "I hope I am not interrupting anything." Oh, how much I wanted for him to say that I was… He, on the other hand, was glad to see me. I almost sighed at that. "I just need a signature… But I can come another day if you are busy, sir." He frowned a little at me calling him 'sir'. I could hardly believe that. Technically he was my grandfather but he was a stranger for me and I was taught manners by Mom. How else could I have acted?

"Not at all. It's nice to see you." I felt quite the opposite… "I wanted to talk to you. I just didn't know how to reach you." This is Forks we are talking about! I am not a fool. Though I had nothing against his hesitation. If he wanted to talk I guess I could make myself listen to him as long as he was the one doing the talking part. "How are you?" He honestly cared about our well-being.

"I am fine, thank you." I would have loved to get out of there but the only way to do that was to go through all of this.

"Please, sit." He motioned for me to take one of the seats in front of him. Sitting meant long conversation but being rude was out of question so I took it. "How are you doing? How is school?"

"School is fine. A bit slow and boring but other than that it is alright. Though I do need these forms signed by a doctor for Adrian's and my Physical Education." I handed him our slips. He didn't even give it a look, instead he just put them down in front of him and silently sighed. I knew that I had no chance to avoid this conversation.

"**I know that I have no right to ask anything for myself but it is hurting Esme seeing her children like this. And it is hard for me to stand that. Edward mentioned that we… lost Bella."** Oh, how much I wanted to shoot back that they lost Mom the moment they left her but talking back was out of question and by staying quiet I hoped this talking would be shorter. **"I can only try imagining what you must be feeling for my son. But I can assure you that he just wanted to protect Bella from what we are and any kind of harm that might come with us. And we could only agree with him."** I was talking to a loving father and husband who simply wanted to see his family happy again. It was difficult to make myself stay and not just walk away. It was difficult for Carlisle too. He was afraid that I would simply leave before he got his chance to finish. He didn't know me well enough to know how to approach me without scaring me away. For him I was a child, in pain and anger. He has seen that, but he has never had to deal with a growing child whose emotions were solid and needed a lot to change. **"When Bella left, we wanted to go looking for her but Alice couldn't see her. Therefore we were powerless and eventually we could only hope that someday she would come back." **Simple people find each other after years of being separated. And _they_ couldn't find Mom?! Waiting is always the easiest way in such situations. **"Edward still can't believe that he will never see Bella again and Alice… Well, Alice is being Alice." **I needed no excuses or apologies from them. And my patience was over. I slowly stood up.

"Could you please sign the forms?" I asked politely, yet determined to get what I wanted and not go back to that conversation.

"_The forms? What forms?"_ Carlisle was confused for a long moment. Then he noticed the papers on the table. Did he really have to read it..? I only needed his signature and not his medical advice. _"Hypertonia…………cardiac arrhythmia…………tachycardia…"_ He frowned. Of course this was serious. And what did he expect? A little stomachache and maybe a headache? "I would like to see your clinical records before I sign this." He looked at me and half-returned the papers for me.

"Thank you. I am sure any doctor in Port Angeles' hospital will sign this. I apologize for wasting your time, sir." I didn't want to appear being rude but I hadn't come here to satisfy his curiosity. I took the papers and walked to the doors.

"Give them a chance." Carlisle sighed a bit hopefully though certain that today he failed miserably.

"Good day, sir." I didn't even turn to him, I just walked through the doors.

It was more than easy to get the signatures I needed in Port Angeles but even with my driving style it was quite a ride and I had more than enough time to think about everything.

As long as I can remember myself I have always been an older and more responsible brother, the only man in the family to protect my sister and Mom. Mom has been gone for about half a year. But Adrian still always needs my attention. No matter how difficult it is to say this but she needs somebody else to be at her side and I am no longer enough for her. She is a girl and I can't or want do everything with her. Charlie will never understand us completely. I can see everyday the way he closes his mind to anything unusual that comes from or around us. We do have friends but most of them live half across a world and they all have their own lives. And I am only twelve! How much can you ask from me? And how much can I give?! I want to have my own friends, my own life and my own fun! Adrian has to find her own way in this world… She doesn't understand me and feels no hatred towards them and they want to be with her. I will always be at her side and I will protect her from any pain they can cause her. I HATE THIS! But she needs people who could understand her. Other than me. I will always be right behind her. I guess we could try this…

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	19. You don't have to be alone

**The story goes on**

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"Morning kids!" Somebody shouted not fat from me.

"Morning…" I only managed to mumble and throw a glance to a window. "Is it morning? It's still dark outside…" I turned my head towards the doorway to see Grandpa and only then I noticed that Gediminas was reading something about journalism in a dim light of his reading-lamp.

"Yes… Well, I am afraid I won't be able to go fishing with you this weekend because Bob called in sick and Greg is visiting his parents so I am the only one available to work at the station. I am really sorry about this…" He did sound regretful.

"Don't worry. There are plenty of things to do in here." My brother sounded interested for some reason. Grandpa frowned. "Our classmates are going to the beach, Neah Bay. We would love to go." He was hopeful. Neah Bay? I had never heard that name before at school… What was he talking about?

"Are you sure? I don't want you to drive that far on your motorcycles…" So beach was okay but our wheels weren't?

"Angie could pick us up. She is coming too." Is she? I thought she had no plans for the weekend…

"Alright. You can go. But don't be late." Grandpa stayed in his spot for a moment more frowning and clearly disliking the idea. That is from what I could see through my half opened eyelashes… Then he left for his work. Where did I finish my dream..? Oh, right…

Sunrays were attacking my eyelids when I finally woke up. It was going to be a hot though cloudy day. I glanced at my brother's bed but it was empty. He was typing something downstairs.

"Morning sunshine! Time to rise. You have to call Angie. And make sure to ask her to pick us up." He was in a good mood, something unusual for him in early mornings. "It's 9a.m.! Up, up, up!" Alright… At least bathroom was free.

I got out of shower and went straight for my clothes. We were going to the beach and I hated changing in those changing cubicles so I put my simple navy blue bikini on. I had to look for my shorts for quite a bit but I did find them in the end. They were white, cotton with wide legs and ended about two spans above my knees. I wasn't going to take them off but the fabric was so thin therefore it would have to do. My white polo shirt with short sleeves and slim fit was right in front of me so I took it. White thong sandals with completely flat heels were in a bag next to towels and caps. Needless to say everything was of Prada make. I was ready to go.

"Call Angie!" My brother was still typing downstairs. He could be very persistent when he wanted. Alright. Where did I leave my phone…?

"Hello…" She sounded sleepy but she was walking around.

"Morning Angie. It's Adrian. How are you?" I wonder what she was doing?

"Oh, hi. I'm fine. I am getting ready to go with my parents but I have no wish so it is kind of slow…" She wasn't sleepy, she was tired. Had she been studying all night?

"Do you want to go to the beach, Neah Bay?" I hoped she did like water.

"Neah Bay? That's a long way there… Why not La Push?" It was a logical question. I just didn't have a good answer.

"I don't really like there. Besides, I have never been to Neah Bay." The truth was Mom made us promise not to go to La Push at all cost. I had no idea why so it was not a reason to be said to a friend.

"Alright. I heard a few more people from school are going there today. I will call them and send you a message when to meet me there. Okay?" Looks like my argument was enough for her.

"Perfect. Oh, maybe you could take me and Gediminas there as well, please?" I had almost forgotten the most important part.

"Sorry, I can't. I am going with my parents in that direction now. They want to introduce me to some seamstress." She did sound regretful. "But I could take you back from the beach with me afterwards." She wanted to make up for it. Not that she needed…

"That would be great! So, I will be waiting for your message then." One more reason to have a ride with my beauty.

"Alright. See you there. Bye." Her mother was calling her to make it faster.

"Bye." I smiled and hung up.

I went downstairs. Gediminas had heard my entire conversation so there was no point in retelling it to him. Grandpa wasn't coming home till late evening, my brother wasn't hungry, as always, hence I fried some eggs with ham and had a quite delicious meal. I was done in no time. Angie hadn't written to me yet so I decided to take a look at my student's books. I had never actually read any of them, from the first page to the last one I mean. It was Saturday morning and I took the easiest one for a start, Math. Most of the text was a waste of space and ink. Near each rule there were at least three explanations and none of them actually made it to the point. Even practical examples were from ancient Greece or Rome. I wasn't that old to remember those times! Luckily when I was at the point of becoming irritated because of this, I got Angie's message: _everybody is meeting near a sign to the beach in Neah Bay at 11a.m. If you are coming, I will meet you there. _It was already a quarter past ten.

"Come, let's go." Gediminas was at the doors downstairs. When I got outside, he was ready to go with his bag on his back. I turned to the garage for my beauty. "I will race you there." He smirked friendly while stretching his hands and legs. Was he actually going to run all that distance? "Did you lock the house?" I nodded and he turned in the direction of our destination. "One… Two…" Fine, I always loved running and now that there was a forest throughout our entire way, why not? I smiled and let the wind blow through my hair.

The running was blissful. I liked trees and cool humidity. Everything was like a blur in my eyes. Gediminas was shimmering around, letting me go first and then getting past me again. The wind was wonderful.

I wanted to keep running but the sign was coming into my view. We slowed down and emerged from the woods. There were seven kids from school waiting.

"Good morning." I greeted them coming closer and got some mornings and hellos back. Everybody was in a good mood. Most of them had been brought here by their parents and had no wish of going back soon. Gediminas and I were at their side when Angie parents' car came down the road. It stopped in front of us and my friend got out a little embarrassed. I guess nobody had ever seen that car before because my schoolmates were staring at it. It was one of the newest Mercedes-Benz. S400, I suppose.

"Hello." She was starting to blush. "Let's go..?" her parents were driving away and we turned for the beach.

It was already hot and when we made it to the parking lot I took my polo shirt off but left my shorts on. Guys looked me over. Ethan even whistled.

"Something wrong?" I asked them making sure that the only answer they could give me was 'no' and turning their eyes away from me. The other girls followed me and took their clothes off. Angie was the only one in swimming suit whereas Emma, Sarah and Natalie were wearing bikinis. Surprisingly guys went to the changing cubicles. When we were finally ready to go, the boys were wearing either briefs or boxer briefs. The tighter, the more confident and pleased with themselves they seemed to be. But of course the girls were looking at my brother, who at least was decent enough to put on a pair of loose trunks stretching to the middle of his haunches. I guess I could understand them. The guys looked rather portly. Gediminas, on the other hand, liked working out and was sinewy.

We got ready and left for the beach. A path towards it was wet and sandy, under huge trees with lots of flying and biting bugs. But when I saw the ocean, it was amazing. Water was crystal clear and blue. Sand was soft and clean with barely a few small stones near the water some way ahead.

We decided to walk by the water for a kilometer or two and then come back the same way. The ocean was warm and everybody jumped into it. Everybody except me and Gediminas. I waded in only so that the water was up to my knees. My brother started slowly walking forward a few steps away from the water. Boys started splashing and I ran out of the water. We were all laughing. A few minutes later I dared to come near the water again only to get my whole front splattered by Jaden. Wait till I get to you! Gediminas chuckled lightly. A smile stretched across my face when I had a plan to get even with my schoolmate. I waded in just below my knees and bowed a little. I put my hand vertically on the surface of the water so that my pinkie was underwater.

"It is a hot day." Jayden smiled laughing. "You want some more?" He wasn't mean, just playful. Well, I could be playful as well. I sharply moved my hand across the surface making a huge wave and spattering him all across his face and front. He was stunned and we all burst out laughing, more at his expression of shock and surprise than at actual splattering. It was useful in more than one way. For start, we had fun. Then, nobody tried to splash me again and my way of making waves became quite popular.

The rest of the way we spent having fun in our own ways. Gediminas was going a few steps aside from us and from the water (He always kept his distance from the water in beaches after an almost-drowning in the Baltic Sea when he was two). I was throwing little and really flat stones in the ocean trying to make them jump on the surface as many times as I could, a challenge for a technique and not strength. Everybody else was in the water running, splashing and shouting. Angie would come out for a few minutes to catch her breath and go back into the water. She was glad I took her out because she was having a really good rest, my brother liked fresh air, wind and admiring the ocean, everybody else was taking a wonderful and much needed break from studies and I was finally completely and fully enjoying myself in this little town in the middle of nowhere.

About an hour and a half later we had walked almost all our distance and were supposed to turn back when I noticed that the clouds were rather thick and dark grey.

"Guys, maybe we should turn back if we don't want to get a shower." I shouted to the others. They were still playing in the water. Gediminas slowed down and came to a halt in the end.

"What are you afraid of? Personally, I would love to have a good shower." Emma laughed. Nevertheless after some comments and complains we turned for our way back.

We had been walking for about fifteen minutes when I felt a few drops of water on my head and shoulders. It was too little to had been spattered and there was nobody in a few meters radius around me, everybody was either still playing in the water or walking on the sand further away.

"Come on, guys!" Ethan called. "Water is even warmer than before!"

"Thank you. I would like to get my shorts dry first." I laughed. Angie went in to moisten herself for the last time. Of course with our schoolmates, she got out soaking wet.

I ran ahead a little through water grabbing a few beautiful stones. Naturally, I splashed my entire back with water and sand. I threw those little ones in the ocean making everybody gasp at the beauty of my toss. I smiled and slowed down so that the others could catch up with me.

Did that drop on my nose just fell out of the sky? Gediminas turned his eyes to the horizon. They got worried. I also took a look at the distance and saw an impenetrable wall of rain. I couldn't see a thing behind it! It was as if somebody had dropped the curtains. We put on some pace but minutes later I could almost feel water in my lungs. It was so humid!

Cloudburst started moments after that last thought I had. The water was beautiful. It was rippling and shimmering. The raindrops were huge. Girls started screaming. Ironically Emma was the loudest.

"And I thought you wanted a shower?" I said smiling and we all chuckled. Except for her, she became disgruntled. Her annoyance only amused me further.

Five minutes later the rain stopped. And I was worried about my shorts getting a little wet? Now my entire bag was soaking as well as me. I brushed my hair away from my eyes and looked around just in time to see an astonishing lightning strike a few tens of meters away from us. Everybody was wringing their hair out. My brother shook his head, water was splattering from his hair and turning them into curls.

"That was good." Ryan chuckled. We all laughed and kept walking.

After ten more minutes I felt a few new drops on my skin. It wasn't long before it started sprinkling again. It was still a long way by the beach to the parking lot and the latter was empty anyway. The parents were not supposed to show up for another hour or so, therefore there was no point in running.

"How many showers did you ask for, Emma?" I smiled. She was rather annoyed because her coiffure was completely ruined.

The way the rain had started, the way it suddenly stopped. There were even a few sunrays making the ocean glisten, it was so warm now. Boys dashed into the water splashing it all around. The girls followed them in dabbling playfully.

Soon I was dry enough to feel comfortable and looked around. Waves in the ocean were small, my schoolmates were playing and having fun and Gediminas was looking for his mobile phone is his bag, worried that it could have gotten soaked. I chuckled at that and shook my head.

We walked like this for fifteen more minutes before everything started all over again. We were wet _once more_. There was a loud thunder somewhere near us. Everybody got out of the water screaming. Just in time as a lightning stroke not far in the ocean. A small breeze appeared. It was getting chilly. Of course it was not enough of a reason for our moods to falter. That is except for the girls, they were beyond irritation and annoyance. Angie was the only one not frowning. We enjoyed the rain laughing and making remarks about how wet we were and even guys' hairstyles being completely ruined. Gediminas was the only one looking better than ever before. His glistening curls seemed to attract even more attention from my schoolgirls and boys were turning a bit jealous to him.

Finally the rain stopped and we sighed in relief. That was interesting. I had been near various seas, lakes and oceans but this was the first time I got into something like this. Three times getting all wet and drying out, I shook my head. Gediminas was smiling with his eyebrows raised. I just hoped it had been enough for today's bathing.

Unfortunately, I wasn't that lucky. Soon the drizzle started again.

"Oh, come on!" Ethan whined loudly. At least our exit from the beach was now in our eyeshot. Of course, there was no point in running, we were all wet anyway. I laughed lightly in despair and shook my hair. I needed to clean the water away from my eyes to see anything. Natalie was almost blind from the water and Gediminas took her hand so that she wouldn't trip or anything, instead she blushed a little.

Now we were almost under the trees but there was still a little walk on the path. The drops were getting fewer. Unfortunately, only to take a breath and start pouring again when the parking lot was coming into our view. Emma, Natalie and Sarah were near tears, their clothes, hairstyles and make ups were ruined. We finally saw a lot of cars waiting. My schoolmates ran to their parents without a single glance back. Gediminas and I slowed down and were barely walking, waiting for Angie to get out or invite us to come with her. She slipped away from her mother and stood in the rain.

"Come on guys, let's go." She waved to us.

"Thank you, but we left our motorcycles nearby." Gediminas gave her a friendly smile and she looked questioningly at me. I glanced at her anxious parents who just wanted to get out of here with their daughter as soon as possible. What could I do? I only smiled just like my brother and slightly nodded encouraging her to go on. She shrugged and got in. I sighed. Everybody was leaving and we had a long walk ahead of us.

"Let's go." Gediminas motioned for me to follow him into the woods when the others were gone. We ran in silence till it wasn't raining anymore. Then we slowed down and I took out my polo shirt, or at least what was left of it. My brother also put on his clothes. We silently walked for some time before he started talking.

"That was interesting." He smiled a little. I nodded and he carried on. "It would have been even better if we had somebody to pick us up." I couldn't agree more. We were silent for a moment. Even though it wasn't pouring anymore, I was still getting rather cold. Then he carefully started again. "You know, we don't have to be all alone." But we weren't alone. We had Grandpa and each other. "You can hardly watch your words while talking to him and you will have to do this your entire life, because no matter how much he is worried about our safety, we are the ones who must protect him. And even though we will always be close I can't be with you all the time. I have my own life and you have yours." I always knew that, but I couldn't see where he was going with this. He sighed tiredly. "We do have other family members." We did? Those words sounded like they had been forced out of him. Looks like it was difficult for him to talk about this but I still couldn't grasp his meaning. "One of them is even closer than Charlie." Gediminas said slowly and carefully, as if being afraid of my reaction. The only family member who was closer than Charlie was Mom, because he was our grandfather and she was our mother. Since Mom was no longer, who could have been closer to us than Grandpa? Oh no… I glared at my brother. Was he going to start that talk again?! I looked at his eyes and saw that I was right. I sighed. This kind of conversations was the most annoying. My brother's eyes widened in surprise for a moment. What was he so surprised about? My reaction? But he seemed to accept where it was leading. Wait a minute! He started this conversation, not me. Did he want to talk about something else? He was looking forward. "Look, I agree, he is a player. And a jerk sometimes…" So he did want to have this conversation... He looked at my eyes and corrected himself. "Okay, maybe not so sometimes." I guess for the first time in my life I snorted, I didn't even know I could make such noises. "But that's who he is. You cannot change him." Gediminas was persistent to continue talking. Alright, if this is what he really wanted…

"He never wanted to be our father. He never did anything to be one. Why should we care about him?" My brother raised his eyebrows looking at me. Alright! I knew that Edward had never actually done anything wrong to us personally. Other than hurting our Mom that is. "That never gave him a right to act with Mom the way he did." I got defensive. Wasn't it enough of a reason for us to hate him for the rest of our lives?

"Nobody says you have to love him, but maybe some recognition that he is your father would help you…" To love him?! For the first time in my life I actually had the main object of my hatred in front of me and he wanted to take it away?! "It is not going to be easy to hate him so much, not anymore. Not when you have to see him everyday at school, no matter how good actress you are. And especially it is going to be difficult to hate him if he continues to want and try becoming our father." I knew he was right. But it wasn't like I could wipe that hatred of all those years away so easily. "Hating him you are destroying yourself. Every time he is in class you come out of English Literature irritated. You can't enjoy even one of your favorite classes. And you do pay him a lot of attention because every time he is not around your eyes feel like missing something. Your heart craves for a close relationship and you care about him. Maybe it's time for your mind to understand that too?" That was so not truth! I hate the man from the bottom of my heart and that was the only feeling I had for him! Gediminas gave me a skeptical look. Now I really hated having a mind-reading brother!

"Why would I recognize as a father the man who did nothing else to change the present but saying sorry?!" How could have mom fallen in love with that… that… he wasn't even a human! I was fuming. Like father, like son. Considering his ability to set me off my brother was becoming so like my father. Unfortunately in all the bad ways! "Oh, wait! He didn't even say that little! Maybe he likes it the way it is?" I knew I was probably being ridiculous but still… I was too angry to think of anything more.

"You cannot change the past no matter how much you want. But it is not too late to change the future." Our house was coming into our view and Gediminas darted into garage finishing our conversation.

It was already late afternoon and I went inside. I unpacked and made dinner for Grandpa and me. Looking at the meal I remembered my thirst for animal blood. It wasn't bad but I could feel it. I had to admit, Gediminas was right in a way, Grandpa would never understand this. Not that I would try, especially not that it was even safe to talk to him about this. But it was a part of me, one more skeleton in my closet…

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**Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't.**


	20. Let's be nice

**As always, thank you all for your reviews. It makes my day.**

**Last time I got a few questions and I suppose I hadn't made everything as clear as I had thought. Now just making sure there are no misunderstandings: Adrian hates Edward from the bottom of her heart because nobody has ever explained her why he left Bella and she could only feel her mother's pain; Adrian feels indifferent to the other Cullens because in a way she can understand their actions though not justify them since Adrian does have Gediminas as a brother and she would do anything for him; Gediminas extenuates Edward and his behavior towards Bella because from his point of view his mother knew where she was getting herself into from the moment she forgave Edward the first time he had left her; Gediminas can make no excuses for what the Cullen's have done because Alice and Jasper knew exactly how much his mother was hurting and only hurt her more each time getting back to her and becoming close and then leaving her again as did their whole family. Though now things are changing little by little because Gediminas will do or at least pretend doing anything and everything for Adrian and she is starting to feel lonely. Feelings in our minds are not necessarily in our hearts and vice versus. Things do change if we make effort but even that takes time. I hope this clarifies everything.**

**Enjoy!**

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Adrian's POV**

Sunday was boring to say the least. Grandpa was working and Gediminas spent all the time riding his motorcycle. I wanted to talk about Saturday so much, I was full of impressions and emotions but there was nobody to listen to me. I could have called my friends in Europe but there was this little issue of time zones. I wished I had somebody close to talk to…

I guess for the first time I felt relieved when it was finally Monday morning. I got up full of energy. I had so much to tell Grandpa but unfortunately he had already left. I wasn't in a mood for breakfast so I went straight to the shower.

When I got out, I made my brother go in and returned to my clothes. Today I kind of wanted to get noticed. I took my white slim-fitting cotton pants and a red leather belt with a silver buckle. After some searching I finally found my bright red short sleeved silken shirt with a deeply scooped neckline and tapered waist. I took my red patent leather moccasins (I still had to ride my beauty and walk) which had round toe, flat heels and jewels on front to match my top of outfit. I also put on my Roberto Cavalli necklace with a pendant of a silver fang. Ironic, isn't it? A half vampire loving a fang as a pendant. Well, red with red and white with white, now I needed something to match my pants. I decided to take my white leather handbag with an adjustable shoulder strap. I was ready to go.

By the time I gathered my books from all over the house, Gediminas was ready to go, standing next to our beauties. When we entered the parking lot it was still quite early but I couldn't wait for the others outside because of the rain.

It was the last lesson before Math's test tomorrow and everybody was nervous. I am calling it officially: this was the most boring Mathematics' class ever! How many times is it possible to revise the same thing over and over again and not to remember it? Well my classmates just broke all the records… Angie felt hopeless and my ability to answer any question or do any exercise didn't help her either. She was depressed and I finally took out my notebook for drafts.

When I entered the drawing studio and took my place most of the other students were already there but our teacher was nowhere to be seen. Rosalie was designing some clothes. I looked over her shoulder. They weren't bad, but pink was never my favorite color and neither was cream. At that moment she was working on a dress with a plunging v-neck and pleating at bust. It also had a pleated skirt. She thought it was missing something but couldn't figure out what it was.

"How about some draped details on bodice?" I said a little frowning thoughtfully at the page. She looked at me surprised and uncomprehending. Then she looked back at her dress and put on some details. She smiled pleased with the final view. "Hello, by the way." I murmured stepping at her side.

"Hello." She gave me a friendly look.

"How was your weekend?" She seemed nice enough to talk a bit, maybe even get to know her.

"I went shopping with Alice." She shrugged.

"That sounds interesting." I smiled and she smiled back nodding. "Though I have heard it can be exhausting too."

"Usually is." She chuckled and I joined her. I wanted to speak more with her but I didn't know what to talk about.

"Is Edward back?" I asked not so sure whether I truly wanted to see him but I did want to be nice with her.

"No. He is taking his time to think." She sounded skeptical, obviously disapproving of his behavior. "But he should be back this week."

"Miss Swan, would you be so kind to take your place?" I hadn't noticed the teacher coming in.

"I'll see you later." I murmured to Rosalie and took my seat. Even though it was short, she did like our conversation, if you can call it that.

During lunch everybody was talking about tests. It was really getting on my nerves now! Weren't there any other subjects? And this was only the beginning… We did take an English test today. We had to write an interpretation of a short scene from _Romeo and Juliet._ It was easy and boring. Well, I did have fun looking for meanings of all the insignificant details… Maybe it wasn't so bad, but it was still boring.

**Gediminas' POV**

History. One of the most boring subjects. I have no idea how some people can find it interesting… With two classes left before tests, guess what we did? The very only and most dragging thing. REVISION.

At least today our teacher came up with a rather interesting idea. There were a little less than twenty of us in class so he offered playing a game. And we all fell for it. He was going to call four kids to the front of the classroom and give them a question. They were supposed to write down the answers on the blackboard, separately without looking at each other or discussing anything. If a kid gets it right, he stays. Otherwise, he goes back to his place and another one is called in. Our teacher had pages of questions and I could feel this was going to be a long lesson. At that moment I just didn't know how long.

The teacher started calling names of those who had to go to the blackboard. First was Emma, she wasn't prepared at all. Second was Jaden, according to him our History's program was a common knowledge and he wasn't going to study it additionally. Third was Jasper. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at his enthusiasm about such things but it still caught me off guard. Who do you think was the last person to be called in? Apparently my luck had gone on vacation and left me alone. This was going to be a REALLY LONG lesson. We took our places and the game started.

First question and Emma was back in her seat, Jaden somehow managed though it was a wild guess that saved him. Everybody was very nervous and it was literally getting to Jasper. At first the kids were afraid to be asked and then they got depressed because they didn't know the answer, typical amnesia just before the test when you revise too much. Jaden was gone with the next question and so was the second girl. Jasper was almost shaking from all the anxiety. I guess I could have tried to get him under my shield but he was too far away. I felt a little pity to him but there was only that much I could do.

A few questions later the room got very warm and breathless, some more nervous kids were panting and pretty much everybody was sweating. Jasper tensed up slowly, strong and burning human's scent was all over the place.

"I'm sorry, sir. Could I open the window, please?" I addressed the teacher while he was choosing his next victim. He just looked at me startled. "It is very hot in here." I carefully and slightly pointed at the window. It took him an entire minute to understand what I wanted and even then he just nodded.

I opened two closest windows near the blackboard and felt fresh air rushing in with a gust. It was so pleasant. Jasper relaxed slightly. I did have had a choice to do nothing in the first place but I wasn't a monster, he was in pain and I had promised to behave for Adrian's sake. Of course, it is not like I needed a scene either. It would have been quite complicated to explain being one of only two survivors after an invisible killer's attack and living with Charlie would have made it impossible.

Jasper carefully stole a glance at me, his eyes were full of appreciation. We got back to the game. Over half an hour later most of the kids had been to the blackboard and failed, Jasper and I were the only ones holding from the very beginning. The teacher called two last kids. They got the first question right and I almost felt hopeful for them. That was till the next question. A girl didn't even make a guess and a boy got confused between days and months. Eventually, Jasper and I were the only ones standing.

"Well done! You can congratulate each other." The teacher was enthusiastic. Jasper carefully and slowly started outstretching his hand. I hated him probably even more than the others in his family, but for the sake of Adrian's I guess I could try this charade. I offered him my hand and he took it eagerly. It wasn't that bad, though it felt very wrong. We shook our hands and turned for our seats.

**Adrian's POV**

Tuesday was all about Math, the only thing that everybody kept thinking and talking about. It wasn't like the test was difficult or anything…

When the teacher finally got everybody's attention most of the girls were panting. We were told to put our books away and even leave our schoolbags in front of the classroom. Now the latter got a lot of negative emotions and comments from my classmates. After making everyone quiet the teacher gave us our tests and we started working.

There were eight exercises and about an hour to do them. I started from the beginning. The first one seemed familiar. Numbers, terms, problem formulation, even the required drawing… Everything somehow rang a bell. I got it done in mere minutes, but still… where had I seen it… The moment I saw the second exercise I knew the familiarity. At least in the first one's case our teacher changed the numbers. She wasn't that creative with the second one, simply rewriting it from one of the books. What can be fun or interesting in writing the solution from memory? I could only roll my eyes at that… The third one was a little better because I had never done it before. Not that it was difficult or anything, but still something new. The fourth and fifth ones were from the last International Mathematics Olympiad. I suppose they had to be difficult for my classmates. Though I did have fun doing them with my friends last year. The sixth exercise was almost identical like from our student's book therefore I was done with it in no time. But the seventh one got my attention. It was from geometry. The problem was that if I find the length of a side doing calculations with angles I get one answer, and if I try doing calculations with Pythagoras' theorem I get a different answer. After almost fifteen minutes of contemplating I finally decided to write that such geometric shape simply cannot exist. I still had more than a quarter of hour for the last exercise, but it required to draw a diagram of an inverse function of the given one. Basic calculations and some efforts to make the diagram clear and easily read for the teacher and I was done for today.

I turned my papers over and quickly glanced around to see how my classmates were doing. Angie was nervous by my side because she was stuck with the sixth one trying to remember it rather than doing it from scratch. The biggest problem was that she had barely scratched the surface of the fourth exercise and she had omitted the fifth one completely. I closed my eyes and let my feelings roam the room once more. A few moments later I felt that most of my classmates weren't doing much better than my friend here. I was the only one to finish everything and nobody was even close to the end. For some reason most of the kids had skipped the fourth and fifth exercises, well they did require a little more thinking than usually but that's the fun, isn't it?

A few minutes later our teacher asked me if I had done everything and after getting a positive answer she let me go. I grabbed my bag and stood outside the classroom waiting for Angie. She got out after the bell. I wanted to say how easy the test was but it was too obvious that Math was the last subject she wanted to talk about so I started speaking about the last weekend and our trip to the beach and her mood improved considerably. I accompanied her to her next lesson and then made my way to the Physics class.

Tests were not enough of a reason for our drawing teacher not to give assignments for the next week when we were finally having The Day of Arts. Every student had to draw something or prepare a song to sing or play in front of the others. Apparently we were having combined classes that day.

English literature was monotonous. We were discussing the extract from the last lesson. I was sitting alone, _again,_ and this was starting to irritate me, there was no one to talk to and I couldn't invite anybody else to sit at my side either. It wasn't easy to admit but I did want for Edward to come back soon.

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**Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't.**

**Next time Adrian is willing to talk and Edward is finally back but it is not the end of the story.  
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	21. Too early, too late

**Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter!**

**Enjoy!  
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Adrian's POV**

"I am ready to go." Gediminas yelled something from downstairs coming my way. "You are still sleeping?! It's a quarter past seven. Up!"

I raised my head sleepily. Grandpa was already gone, Gediminas was standing in the doorway, rain was pouring outside… Wait! Gediminas was up and around? What time is it?! Oh, no… I ran to the bathroom and got out ten minutes later, a personal record. After opening the wardrobe I took the first clothes I could lay my hands on. So it happened to be a pair of navy blue Diesel jeans with a long waist, black long sleeved Prada shirt, a bit tight but comfortable and a black pair of Prada sneakers. On my way downstairs I grabbed my black leather jacket. I hadn't unpacked yesterday and my schoolbag was still in my beauties saddlebag, we were either writing tests or doing revision so there was no point in taking my books upstairs, let alone out of the bag.

When we arrived I noticed that the parking lot was full, at least I won't have to sit alone during English Literature. Unfortunately, there was one more meaning behind so many cars. We were almost late. Since there was no one to be seen, Gediminas literally dashed to his History class, he was having a test for a start of the day. I ran to my Math classroom and entered with a bell. I took my seat and instantly got bored seeing the new theme which I already knew pretty well. Well, I was going to have plenty of time for my sketches.

Physics wasn't more interesting, the last lesson before a test so we were held back even after the bell. I was late to my drawing class, thankfully only by mere minutes therefore I wasn't noticed but I had no time to chat with Rosalie either. Luckily I was too early for my History test and had enough time to skim through my notes. The test was boring and required no thinking, only good memory and nice handwriting. When I wanted I could have both, but I did get so bored that after it I almost felt tired.

I made my way to the lunchroom and grabbed a slice of pizza. Angie was sitting by one of the tables at the furthest end of the room, alone as always. I took my place in front of her and sighed trying to wake up.

"Difficult test?" She was taking hers after lunch.

"Lots of dates, names, places. All that you have to learn by heart and you can think of nothing unless you truly know. Though everything was in the book." I almost yawned but managed to keep my mouth shut.

"That doesn't sound so bad." She felt hopeful.

"Not at all. It was rather easy." I mumbled straightening my back, shoulders and neck. I shook my head and finally cleared my mind from all the sleepiness. "Do you have any ideas for the Day of Arts?"

"Well, I do have a painting that is not so bad…" Angie hoped she could get away without actually doing anything. "And you?"

"Definitely no painting." I smiled nodding with my eyebrows raised. She knew too well how much I hated showing my works when it wasn't necessary. "I was thinking about playing… I will just have to learn what instruments they have in here."

"Anything in particular?" She couldn't play any instrument but was fascinated by the way other people did.

"I do hope they have a piano…" That way I could play any one of my favorite pieces.

"I would love to hear you." She got curious.

"And I am glad you won't." She knew I wasn't mean, I just preferred playing when nobody was listening. We both chuckled. Two boys approached us.

"Hello. Mind if we sit here?" One of them asked friendly. He had a round face, blonde hair and was wearing faded jeans and a t-shirt with a print on front, definitely not my type.

"Not at all." I shrugged barely looking at them and turned back to Angie. They took the seats on my both sides. Angie blushed a little, why was she so shy…? "I never got a chance to ask you how did you like Math yesterday?" I asked the girl in front of me, smiling only so slightly.

"Disaster would be an understatement." She murmured annoyed though there was a trace of smile on her lips.

"My name is Connor. You are Adrian, right?" The first boy asked.

"Yes. Nice to meet you." Typical answer for a typical question. Did he really think he was being exceptionally polite to me? I kept my eyes on him for another minute or so, just in case he wanted to say something else but he stayed silent. Well, he was the one to come over, so without any signs of guilt I turned back to my friend.

"It wasn't that bad." I smiled at Angie carrying on with our conversation. She chortled quietly.

"You are talking as if you did all the exercises." A second boy said skeptically. He was rather tall with short dark hair and he was wearing black jeans and white polo shirt, simple but good-looking. Angie kept peeking at him, he looked like a model to her. I almost rolled my eyes at that, though he wasn't so bad, I guess.

"And you didn't?" I asked him back, thinking that there was maybe a bunch of people who could have skipped an exercise or two but other than that the test had been easy enough to do it without a problem.

"Oh, I just remembered. I wanted to ask you how to do this one." Angie handed me a piece of paper with the fifth exercise from the day before. I took out my pencil and started writing. It took me no time to get consumed and forget everything and everyone around me.

"My name is Scot by the way." The second boy said wanting to get my attention back. he couldn't believing that I wasn't all over him. Apparently he was one of those big shots in here who were popular enough to choose the other half and right now he thought I had not recognized him, not that it was possible according to him but he couldn't think of another explanation for my behavior. He was still persistent to get my attention. Well, this wasn't his lucky day because I had my mind occupied and he just wasn't interesting enough to turn my thoughts off the task. "Do you have a boyfriend?" He casually tried again.

"Not close." I mumbled. This was one of the ways to get an answer from me to the question I would otherwise ignore, when I am doing something interesting I always tell the first thing coming on my tongue just to get rid of any distractions. Wait! Did I just told him that?! I did have Alexander. On the other hand, he was living half around the world so technically I didn't lie. I noticed I had turned my head half way to that Scot or whatever his name was and turned it back at the paper in front of me. "Was that six or sixteen?" I murmured finally doing the last calculation and finishing my work. I handed it to Angie who looked thoughtfully at it.

"How did you do it?" She said quietly.

"It is from the last International Mathematics Olympiad. My friend participated in it last year." I shrugged indifferently, though it did make some impression on the boys at my sides. Hot and smart? I wasn't hot! I was normal… good-looking maybe, because of the genes from my father, but I was definitely not a chick, the association that word always gave me.

"And how did she do?" Connor wanted my attention.

"Well she wasn't the winner, that much I know. So I never actually asked." I smiled and glanced at the clock on the wall. We had less than five minutes before the next lesson and Angie was having a test. "Sorry, we have to go." I stood up taking my schoolbag. "It was nice to meet you." I said to neither in particular just looking at my friend and waiting for her. We were almost late. She took her bag and we left. The boys stayed startled by our sudden departure.

I got in only moments before my English Literature started so I had no time to talk to Edward. Well, he seemed to be fine with this hence I stayed silent till the class was over. Then I finally spoke, though not completely sure whether I really wanted this or what to tell him.

"Hello." I started carefully.

"Hi." He unwillingly answered after a moment. That's not what I had expected, though I never actually gave this a serious thought.

"You were gone for quite a while." I tried again.

"You should talk to your brother." He snapped at me and hurriedly left. Alright, that was weird. Was I missing something? Looks like I was…

**Gediminas' POV**

I was just coming out of History's test, a little bored and apathetic to everything around me when I noticed Edward coming my way. I went outside and stood under a lean-to so that we could talk alone because that was clearly what he wanted. I felt a little hopeful that I had finally made my sister see some sense and not a moment too early for Edward's, _our father's,_ return.

"Hello." He said firmly and carried on without giving me a chance to respond. "This won't take long. I just want to tell you something." I wanted to say that Adrian was finally ready to start talking to him but he seemed determined about the way he wanted this dialogue-monologue to go, so I kept my mouth shut. "I had been thinking a lot lately and came to a painful realization that you two truly are right not wanting me. Adrian showed the way she feels the first moment we really met and you were quite clear yourself with your opinion. We do have nothing in common besides blood relationship. You are not Bella. Therefore I do not know you, not even a single detail, so I am not sure whether I could be your father at all. You were right from the beginning and this will be better for you." He nodded. I could see that he truly meant and believed what he just said. I was speechless, this was the last thing I had been expecting. "I will not bother you anymore with this kind of talks. And I will make sure that my family stays away from you and does not get in your way." He took a breath and continued finishing his speech. "Tell your sister about this, will you? Just so that there are no misunderstandings. And I will keep my family in check." He said quietly and left. I was still trying to grasp his meaning and could hardly believe what I had just heard.

It wasn't like I had been hoping for Adrian to become close with our father, it would have been almost too much to expect though considerably easier for me to except than the other option. But this? I was stunned. When I had finally made my sister see that we could hardly live without anybody else like us to talk to, and realizing that myself, Edward decided he no longer wanted to try being our father. I sighed heavily. Now he figured this out..! Adrian is going to kill me… I closed my eyes in misery and let the rain wash them.

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	22. Scot

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The next few days flew by like a glimpse.

On Thursday we had a Physics' test. I managed to make my drawings quite large so that the teacher wouldn't take away any points. I had the last exercise left and decided to take a minute rest, there was about half a lesson left. I briefly glanced around and noticed that most of my classmates were having serious problems. Apparently for them this test wasn't as easy as I thought. Girls were desperately trying at least to scratch a surface of some exercises and boys were writing off this test as an obvious failure without even giving it another effort. I was a little surprised about all of this. I actually felt a little uncomfortable about managing to do everything when the others were failing. It was the first time I was going to a normal school and I didn't want to stand out from the other students. Maybe I was missing something about these exercises, maybe there was something I hadn't noticed, some difficulty and exception to the rules…? I skimmed through my work but couldn't find a thing wrong. Maybe I didn't know something… I decided to carry on to my last exercise. It wasn't a difficult one. I started doing it but stopped after a moment. I knew the way it was supposed to be written, but if I looked at it from another point of view and seriously took into consideration some minor details, and I could have easily done that in the first place, then the drawing should be a little different and that would change the solution, even if only for a bit. I decided to go along with this. After I was done I knew this was not the correct way to do it but I still got a quite realistic answer. By the time the teacher decided to collect our works I was done, only a few other students had a good hold of some exercises but they desperately needed more time, the others had accepted the fact that this test was a complete disaster to them.

When I left the class, Scot, I think, was waiting for me just outside the door. Other girls stopped by to talk to him but he had his eyes only for me. I didn't exactly expect that but if he wanted to talk then why not…?

"Good morning beauty." He smiled at me. Alright, I called my motorcycle that, so coming from somebody else's mouth that sounded weird.

"Good morning." I put on a smile.

"You look fascinatingly today." His smile grew wider.

"Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself." I politely smiled back. He just shrugged though it was obvious that he more than liked that compliment coming from me. For some reason he valued my comments more than the ones coming from other girls.

"How was the test?" He asked cheerfully. He was glad he had Biology instead.

"Fine. It wasn't very difficult." I couldn't help myself but decided to be safe. "Though there were quite a few tricky parts." I shrugged. I didn't want to be the know-it-all.

"I'm glad to hear that." Was he trying to flatter me? From the looks of it this was the exact case. We walked in silence for a moment. "I have heard a lot of things about you." He started again.

"Really? And what exactly?" I didn't like gossiping but it was always useful to know what the others were thinking or talking about me.

"Only the good, don't worry. No juicy gossips either." He chuckled lightly. I wasn't sure whether I liked it. "But looks like nobody knows a single detail about your personality. Other than that you are incredibly smart, beautiful and know how to defend yourself." He was curious.

"What would you like to know?" It was better to give him something than just wait for the others to create it.

"Oh, there is so much." He said dreamily. "What's your favorite movie?" He asked quickly.

"I'm not sure. I like a lot of them. _Wind_ is definitely one of them." I had never thought about this before. All my friends knew me well enough not to need to ask.

"How come I have never heard of it?" He was frowning a little.

"It is rather old. It is a love story in a way but the main focus is on the yachts' race. There are a lot of beautiful views there and it is quite realistic." He wasn't convinced. "_Man on fire_ isn't a bad one either. With Denzel Washington. There are a few really good phrases, though it is not for easy watching." At least this one rang a bell to him.

"I think I have seen it." He was quiet for a few moments. We were not far from the drawing studio. "I hope I will see you later." He smiled at me. "Good luck."

"You too. You know where to find me." I said entering the class. The lesson was starting so I quickly took my place.

English Literature was weird. The lesson was fine, rather boring but fine. The teacher was talking about our works and how she had never read anything this terrible. I tuned her out and wanted to talk to Edward but he just ignored my whispers and after a few attempts I stopped. I hadn't had a chance to talk to Gediminas and didn't really expect to have one today, especially considering the way he was doing all he could to avoid me.

After the lesson Scot was waiting for me outside. Edward eyed him irritated but didn't say a word. What was wrong with him? He was the one not talking, not me. Scot walked to me.

"How did it go?"

"I sit with that grouch. So you can imagine how interesting that is." I murmured annoyed. He smiled at me. "How was your lesson?"

"I had a Biology test." He shrugged. It was very difficult for him but he wasn't going to admit that.

"Simple and boring?" I continued as if I knew nothing about it.

"You can say that." He nodded smiling. Of course it was boring when you know almost no answers.

"Where to next?" He seemed nice enough to talk more.

"Gym." He said simply.

"Really? Me too." I was honestly surprised at that.

"Don't tell me you have no idea who is in your Gym class?" He chuckled lightly looking at me with his eyes wide. I shrugged innocently smiling. "Well, I guess when you do no sports you don't really have to know the kids in class."

We walked to the locker rooms and he went inside smiling to me that he will be out in a minute. I was in the gym sitting in my usual place when he came back. Gediminas was sitting a few meters away writing another song or article. Coach asked everybody's attention. They were supposed to play badminton today. When the teams were being made Scot made sure that he had no one. In the end he was the only one without a pair. The coach told him to do some exercises and left him be. A few minutes later Scot came over to me. The teacher looked at him not so pleased but just shrugged and got back to other students. Scot and I started chatting. We talked about music, books and whatnot. It was interesting and funny, though I did have to watch my tongue a little.

It was the most interesting and generally the best P.E. class I ever had. After it I waited for Gediminas to finish discussing some game or race with the coach. Scot came out of the dressing room.

"You want me to take you home?" He smiled. He thought I was waiting for him.

"Thanks, but no. Maybe another time." I smiled back. My eyes darted to my brother still engrossed in the conversation. Scot kept standing in front of me.

"Why not?" It was too incomprehensible for him to believe that I had just refused his invitation.

"I don't really know you that well." I shrugged. Luckily Gediminas finally came to my side.

"Ready to go?" My brother asked casually completely ignoring the boy in front of me.

"Sure." I answered. "I'll see you tomorrow." I glanced at Scot and left with my brother.

"Just be careful about what you tell him." Was the only remark about Scot from my brother.

Friday wasn't much better with all the teachers whining about how terrible our results were. But Scot was seeing me to my every class and that made the mood considerably better.

I got to the drawing studio early. Rosalie was drawing yet another dress.

"Hello." I greeted her smiling.

"Hello." She answered friendly. I looked at her sketches. "Do you have any plans for this weekend?"

"Not really. Grandpa will be busy. I think we will spend most of the time tidying the house." I shrugged indifferently.

"Maybe you would like to go shopping with me?" She was craving for a positive answer.

"I don't know. I don't really do the shopping. Usually I just send Gediminas with a list." I finished dismissively.

"I meant shopping for clothes. Just the two of us. Maybe Emmett to carry our bags but I promise no one else." She really wanted for me to come along. And she did think that Alice was the main reason why I was refusing. Not that I cared much about her sister. I hadn't talked to Alice for over a week.

"I really don't know." I trailed off. "I mean, I have never done that before." Her eyes widened and came down from my face to my clothes and up again. She didn't believe me. "Mom had a few friends who always took care after such things. All I… or Mom for that matter, had to do was draw something we wanted to wear and a couple of weeks later we would get the clothes." I was a little embarrassed about this but that's the way my life had been. Even now I was going to receive a package from one of Mom's old friends in a week or so.

"What kind of friends did Bella have…?" Rosalie astounded murmured quietly, even for a vampire. "Well, maybe you will like it." She said louder. Her eyes were still wide but she tried to shake it off. "We could make a short trip to Port Angeles. There is a mall there and a few quite good shops."

"I guess it wouldn't be so bad to try. I could use a new blouse and I do want a new necklace with a pendant…" I still wasn't sure about the idea but it's not like there were a lot of things that could go wrong in a shop. Right? Rosalie gave me an up-and-down clearly disagreeing with me.

"Then how about we meet in the school's parking lot in Saturday morning?" I didn't really know the surrounding area so the meeting point was fine for me.

"Sure." I nodded and the teacher called for everybody's attention. "I will see you then." We both smiled and I took my seat. Rosalie was looking forward to our shopping trip and in a way so was I.

The rest of the day wasn't interesting, rather dragging actually.

Scot kept my company as much as he could. Therefore Angie was really quiet and blushing all the time. It's not that I can complain. I was much more used to male's company than female's and I had always found that it was easier to talk to guys rather than girls. But I didn't really like my first friend in here being so over-modest. Anyway, I did have fun talking to Scot. After numerous conversations I found that I actually liked him.

Edward, on the other hand, kept his distance and completely ignored me. I was becoming quite exasperated about this. Wasn't he the one who wanted to talk in the first place? I really couldn't understand all these sudden changes. Looks like I had quite some talking to do with my brother… Well, he couldn't keep running away from me forever.

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**Thank you for reading. I know, there were pretty much no answers in this chapter but that's the way life goes, we don't get answers just because we want and all things tend to happen at once. Answers begin rolling in with the next chapter. For now tell me what you liked this time and what you didn't.**

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	23. Shopping time

**The show goes on and the answers start coming in slowly...**

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Finally it was Saturday! No school, Grandpa at work and I was about to have my first real shopping trip!

When I got out of the bathroom I decided to put on some really comfortable clothes for a change. I took my white slim fit Diesel jeans with low waist and a white long sleeved Prada jumper with a v-neck. I found my white Gucci sneakers under my bed and grabbed a white leather jacket on my way downstairs. My clothes were quite loose and informal so for the first time I'm in Forks I was not supposed to attract any attention.

"Good morning and goodbye!" I shouted for my brother who was typing something in the living room. I stopped for a moment in a doorway and turned back to him. "By the way, don't forget you have to clean and tidy the house."

"Wait a minute! Last time I talked with Charlie we were both supposed to do the house." Of all the times he was absorbed in his work, he chose this one to hear me.

"But I am going shopping and you are doing nothing." I shot back.

"I can go shopping. Besides Mom never let you carry those heavy bags." He was going to do anything just to get away from the cleaning.

"No. I am going shopping. Emmett will do the carrying. Of course, unless you would like to go shopping for female's lingerie?" I smirked and was going through the doors.

"Don't worry. Then I will leave some for you too." He shouted for me. I knew he was going to say that and I doubted he was going to move at all before I came back so there was no surprise there. I mounted my beauty and left.

When I came into school's parking lot it was empty. I looked around. It was strange being here alone. Actually it was the first time I have ever gone anywhere without my friends or at the very least brother. A few minutes later I heard a car coming my way.

Rosalie entered the parking lot in her red BMW. Emmett was sitting by her side, his face lit up when he saw me. I smiled, only they couldn't see it through my visor. They passed me, turned around and stopped right in front of me. Rosalie wanted to get out and greet me but the drizzle was definitely going to ruin her hair. I nodded encouraging them to go, I was going to follow them.

Carefully and slowly Rosalie left the parking lot and I was on her tail. She kept glancing at her rear window to see whether I was following them. I could only smile at that. A few minutes later we left Forks and then I really hit my accelerator. I passed them momentarily. I saw Emmett's wide eyes and Rosalie's pleased smile. When I could no longer see them in my side mirrors, I slowed down to let them catch up with me. Minutes later I stopped at the roadside and was about to turn back because they were still nowhere to be seen. Finally, they passed me and I sped along. We played catching up with each other and letting go for the rest of the way slowing down only when we entered the city.

We stopped outside the mall and they got out of the BMW. I took off my helmet and dismounted my motorcycle. When I turned to them Emmett was smiling at me.

"Way to go kid! I haven't seen such riding in a really long time." He was genuinely surprised and amused by our little trip.

"I had wonderful teachers." I shrugged lightly chuckling.

"I want to hear all about it." He got curious. It felt nice that he wanted to know me.

"Another time. Now let's go shopping." Rosalie chipped in. I smiled and followed her.

The mall was huge. There were so many shops I had never seen or even heard before. My head seemed to start spinning when I tried to take in all the surrounding area. Rosalie and Emmett laughed at my reaction, but I knew it was a friendly gesture. We walked into one of the first shops of clothes.

Rosalie went for shelves with blouses and shirts. I slowly moved between all those racks, counters and dummies. I was amazed by the amount of clothes. Emmett kept watching me with a grin on his face. For some reason he expected me to trip or at least be generally clumsy. I didn't feel very comfortable with that and tried to pretend browsing through blouses hanging by the wall.

"What size are you?" Rosalie scrutinized me.

"Um… S, I guess. But sometimes it's XS." I blushed. Honestly I had no idea what my size was but all the others looked huge.

Rosalie held out a red blouse with a boat neck for me. "I wish there was a size XXS. Then it would fit you." She murmured a little annoyed.

I dashed for another section of the shop. This one included skirts. I wasn't going to buy any of these but there was no damage if I looked around. Unfortunately Rosalie with Emmett on her tail came after me. She took a navy blue skirt with a slip up the side. It ended just below the knees and had some metallic details.

"Try this one." She stretched it out for me. I noticed it was one of Roberto Cavalli's.

"I already have it." I dismissed it looking at another pile of skirts. "And mine is more comfortable. It ends above the knees." I looked at Rosalie and noticed her surprise. "Trust me, it looks better too."

"This one is from new collection. It arrived this week." She tried to persuade me but noticed my skepticism. "It's Roberto Cavalli's" Was that supposed to make me want that skirt?

"I know him. He was one of Mom's friends. And I do have the model. Well, the better version of it, that is." I shrugged and her eyes widened even more.

"You know him personally?" Now even Emmett was looking at me.

"Yes. He is one of the local designers, the minor ones. Right?" It was becoming rather uncomfortable.

"The minor one?! He is a worldwide designer!" Rosalie stared at me surprised and, looks like, personally offended.

"Really? I didn't know that." I shrugged. "He seemed like a nice man. But that was years ago." I said nonchalantly and turned for polo shirts hanging by the wall.

"Adrian? Have you ever read _Vogue _or something like that?" Emmett asked indifferently looking around but I could see a smile playing around his lips.

"Once or twice maybe, while I was waiting for Mom. Why?" I could feel the big guy wanting to make a joke of my knowledge about fashion but I just couldn't see where he was going.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." He seemed amused. "It's just that Rosalie and Alice spend hours reading them to be in step with all those new clothes and you seem to be fine without any effort. It's quite amazing actually."

"I got that skirt like half a year ago, maybe even more. It's anything but new." This conversation was getting old.

"Really? How did you do that?" Now Rosalie looked genuinely interested.

"I sent him my sketches and a few weeks later he sent me clothes. That's how it works. I send them my drawings and if it's worth something, they send me clothes according to my works." Rosalie's eyes were wide again and I didn't like that at all. "Of course, I send my sketches to other people too." They both looked even more interested and I wanted to get out of that shop as soon as possible. "So, are you taking anything?" I tried to turn the talk somewhere else.

Rosalie bought a handful of bags full of clothes and Emmett took them to carry around. We left the shop and went by others.

"You mentioned that Roberto Cavalli was Bella's friend." The big guy started talking again.

"Yes…" I trailed off.

"Do you by any chance know if there were other designers among your mom's friends?" He was curious.

"Designers, models, photographers, journalists, various CEOs, CMOs… Yes, there were a few designers." I nodded seeing nothing wrong in that.

"Where did she meet them?" There was a smile back on his face.

"She did some modeling back in the days…" I trailed off doing window-shopping.

"Bella? Modeling?" Emmett stopped in astonishment. "My little clumsy sister did the catwalk?!" He boomed with laughter.

My mother was not clumsy and no matter what he thought, he had no right to laugh like this. It irritated me to no ends. I stopped in front of a jewelry shop and noticed a little white gold pendant of a form of a whirlpool, made be Bvlgari. It was beautiful, Rosalie was in the shop and Emmett was about to take a step. I had an idea.

The moment the big guy was about to walk, I made him clumsy, causing him to trip and stretch out on the floor with his full height. I wasn't going to wait for his reaction and slipped into the shop. Rosalie ran out passing me to look for the source of such noise when she saw her lover. I made my way to the cash desk and asked for the pendant. I could feel Rosalie's incomprehension and Emmett's confusion. It took her a few long moments to get the picture of what had just happened and she looked at me, then at the big guy, and then back at me. I paid for my purchase and came to her. Emmett finally thought of getting up, he still couldn't understand his tripping.

"Shall we?" I asked Rosalie innocently and she pulled me closer putting a hand on my shoulder. Nobody had ever done that before therefore I automatically shrugged it off and took a step aside. She looked surprised at me. "Sorry, I'm not used to that." I murmured. I didn't mean to hurt her. I just wasn't sure how close I wanted to be with them and skin contact was always a lot for me.

"It's alright." She assured me. "We have all the time in the world."

She smiled and turned to walk on. I looked her in the eyes and came closer to her. We were walking side by side but not touching each other. She seemed alright with that and it was the most I was ready for. Emmett was walking behind us, still thinking about his falling. I almost chuckled at the previous sight and his forgetfulness of my abilities.

There was a question that had been bugging me for awhile and since Gediminas was not willing to answer it I had no other choice but to ask these two.

"Do you by any chance know what's wrong with Edward?" I asked them carefully.

"What do you mean? Has there ever been anything right with him?" Rosalie was sarcastic and I liked her attitude.

"He is quiet and at first he wanted to talk but now he doesn't even look at me." I murmured sadly.

"My brother thinks that by staying away from you he will protect you from any harm or pain that can come with us." It was the first time I heard Emmett seriously talking.

"But he is only hurting us. And we can protect ourselves, we've done that before." I said quietly. And it was truth, it would take hours to count all the times my brother and I had been in serious trouble and got out without a scratch. The big guy arched his eyebrows at my last sentence but decided to let it go.

"When he was with Bella, he couldn't stay away and he caused her a lot of pain. He has been blaming himself for that ever since. This time he is sure, that by distancing himself from you, he will spare you any possible pain." That serious look on Emmett looked rather weird.

"But we are not Mom. We are not made of porcelain or glass! I have a life and I want to have a life." I exclaimed quite loudly. "I just don't want to be alone." I finished silently.

"Don't worry. We will be sure to make him see this." Rosalie offered me a friendly smile and I took it eagerly.

We walked like this for another hour or so, going into shops and out of them. By the time I had to go home I had already unnerved Rosalie because she couldn't find anything worth buying for me that I didn't have already. I was a little touched by her care and I liked it.

"Maybe you want to come over to our house?" Emmett was eager to continue our conversation.

"Thank you, but maybe another time." I wasn't ready for that, just not yet.

"Don't push her Emmett. We will have a lot of opportunities later." Rosalie smiled at me and I smiled back, grateful for her comprehension.

We went home racing again. When it was time for the turn away from the road they slowed down to almost a halt and both smiled at me as I passed them. I stopped and turned for them. I nodded saying my goodbye and they sped away. I went home feeling happy about today. I had a really great time. Even if I wasn't ready to call them my family, I think I was ready to call them my friends.

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	24. Mom

**The story goes on... A short different POV in this chapter.**

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On Saturday when I came home, it was rather late and, of course, Gediminas hadn't moved an inch. It was always difficult to understand for me how could he keep writing articles about various sports games and do translations for hours, though his habit of writing lyrics or even sometimes composing was somehow natural, it's only pity we had no musical instruments here because it would have been great to hear his compositions. Grandpa came home only to watch some sports and chat with my brother about some more games. Looks like today I was the only one caring about our home… Again, that it. My mood was too perfect to go tidy the house alone so I decided to make my family help me and do it tomorrow.

Sunday morning was windy and wet in all the possible ways. For start, our roof started leaking and it was pouring outside. After taking a look at our cubbyhole, I found that some pipes were about to explode. And guess who was doing the laundry and all those dishes from an entire week?

I wasn't going to let Grandpa go up the roof and I had no wish of getting all soaking wet myself, so I made my brother do some good. He always liked saying how much he enjoyed rain and water in general. Now I could only smile looking at him getting ready, as if he was going into a battle rather than on a roof.

Next on my list was making my grandfather realize that in order to live in here he also had to do his part. After putting most of the dirty clothes into washing machine, I made Grandpa go to the cubbyhole to at least take a look at those pipes and gather the tools he needed. The latter took much longer and was a lot messier than I would have ever believed possible. He started scouring the place, moving various things to and fro. I decided to keep him a company in case he needed me.

After numerous boxes had been moved, a letter fell out of somewhere. It looked old but in a good enough state to be opened. I carefully took out the paper and looked at it for a few moments before unfolding it. Gediminas was behind my back nodding in encouragement to read it.

_My dear children,_

_If you are reading this letter, it means I am no longer around. I just hope I had a chance to tell you goodbye, but if not, then I will see you when the time comes. Whether it will be millenniums or an eternity, I will be waiting for you. In the mean time I want you to know, that I love you both and always will and nothing and no one will ever change that._

_At the moment you are aging so rapidly. There are a lot of things I never had a chance to tell you and right now you don't even want to hear most of them. I hope now, reading this letter, you are ready to hear me. Not only listen, like you both enjoy doing just to ease my mind and heart, but actually hear me out._

_You have already heard this hundreds of times, but I want to be sure that you really understand this. You, reading this letter, means that you are living with your grandfather Charlie. I am glad about this. He won't have to be alone and you will take a good care after him. I am sure of that. But you have to remember, that you are different from everyone around you, including him. And for that reason you have to be careful, always and everywhere. I don't know why, but I do feel safe about this. I know that you two will protect each other no matter what._

_There are also a lot of things I never had a chance to tell you, let alone explain._

_We have never talked about your father. Edward. I know, that you both more or less hate him, maybe even despise him, but I want you to see my position in all of this. Before your father, my life was meaningless. I moved to Forks to let my mother have her happiness. When I met Edward, I couldn't take him out off my mind and with time I fell in love with him. He was careful with me all the time. Sometimes I liked it, sometimes I didn't. It didn't take long for me to figure out what he was. And I took him just the way he was. After he learned about my revelations and that I was more than fine with that, he relaxed a little. Our love grew stronger with each day. A couple of months later he saved my life in Phoenix. The following summer was the best in my life. Though he left after my eighteenth birthday, he did come back to me. He asked my forgiveness and I eagerly granted him one. I was madly in love with him. He was always at my side. No matter how many times he left, our feelings only grew stronger. Remember the saying that true love is blind? Well, mine was. We had our night. It was amazing. Later we grew further apart, but I still loved him and I am sure he loved me back. He tried hiding his feelings from me, but he never actually succeeded in that. When I was sure I was carrying you, I tried telling him, but he pushed me away. At the time I was angry, furious at him, but now I understand that it was only his way of protecting me and you. He was what he was and his very being at our side would have put us into a constant and terrible danger. That's how he saw all of this. The more I think about it, the more sure I am. In a way he has always been a player, the most handsome guy at school or wherever we went, but he always cared about me. That's the man I loved and still do. Even if I was only a short glimpse of his life, I believe he loved me and if he knew about you, he would have adored you. And that's all I need._

_There are a few more things I never told you or explained and now, that we have all the time in the world, I want to do this._

_If you ever get into problem that you cannot find a way out, I want you to go to Carlisle. He is a wonderful man. He will listen to you and help you as much as he could. After Charlie is no longer, I want you to join his family. He will take a good care after you and you will be happy and safe._

_I know you probably miss me and I could find no better person for you to be loved by than Esme. She is the very definition and even more of a perfect mother. She will be caring, kind and understanding for you. Of that I am sure._

_You, my little Adri, will find the friends of your soul only by looking at Alice and Rosalie. All three of you will do anything and everything to get what you want, even if that makes the others uncomfortable. But I know that in the end you wish only the best for the others and that makes me smile._

_You, Gediminas, have never asked me why I gave you a second name of Jasner. True, it was too painful of a reminder for me to call you Jasper at the time, but I couldn't help myself and I wanted you to be at least a little like him, caring, friendly, self-conscious and always ready to do whatever it takes for the love of your life. You have always been the core stone of our family. But you are still a child and I want you to have fun. I don't think I could find you better partners in crime than Emmett and Jasper. I am sure they will protect you and they will let you have more than enough fun._

_I know it's a lot to ask for, but someday I want you to forgive your father and find his family, they are wonderful people._

_I love you both from the bottom of my heart and I hope that your lives will be happy and long. I am sure sooner or later you will find your other sides. But even when it happens and all the time before that, I want you to stay close. You are the only ones you will always be able to trust and understand, and there is nothing and no one more important than that._

_With all the love in the world_

_Your loving mother_

_Bella_

I was speechless when I finished reading. I could see Gediminas' eyes darting through the pages and drinking the remembrance of our mother. It felt like she was here, with us, in this room. And I could smell her. I read the letter over and over again. It was full of love, one that I missed so much.

I sat like this for minutes, maybe hours. Gediminas stayed behind my back looking over my shoulder. Finally, I decided it was time to move. Grandpa had already gone to the living room. I got up, handed the letter to my brother and went to the kitchen. I had a lot to contemplate and even more to do. And not only today.

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	25. Trying to live

**The story goes on... **

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I wasn't sure whether I was glad or sad when Monday morning finally came. I knew I had a lot ahead of me, alot of talking to do with so many people. I wasn't sure whether I was ready for that. I felt eager to see Scot again, he made me laugh and feel almost normal. I was a little nervous about seeing Rosalie because I didn't know whether she liked our previous shopping trip, I surely did. I knew I had a lot of questions for Edward and his sister's encouragement was helpful and definitely much needed. All in all this was going to be a long and eventful week.

Right now I was standing in front of a mirror, something strange and unusual for me. Everything has a beginning. This week was not an exception and the most urgent issue for me was Scot. I liked talking to Alexander and spending time with him, I liked him! But Scot wasn't bad either and he knew how to make me smile and even laugh… I just wasn't sure if the latter would stay with me through all the bad times as well…

"There is nothing wrong with talking to others." Gediminas interrupted my silent monologue.

Talk. Well, that's the only thing I do with Scot. Talk… And laugh… But I was definitely never letting him anywhere close enough to even take my hand. Something I felt fine with Alexander doing. Talk… I could do that. There was nothing wrong with talking to Scot, was there?

"Time to go." My brother yelled from outside. I took one last look at the mirror and left.

When we got to school, I noticed that the silver Volvo was already there. Rosalie seemed annoyed, more than usual that is. She looked at me and her eyes were apologetic and regretful. Emmett was hovering over her. For some reason he was more than irritated at Edward. What had he done now?

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to watch them, because class was about to start.

"I have never seen worse work than yours. Ever in my entire lifetime!" was the teacher's summary of the lesson. I almost helplessly yawned at the thought that apparently my classmates couldn't do even simple calculus. Everybody was nervous and I was bored.

Today the bell was my savior! Literally. As soon as it rang I threw all my things in my bag and swung it over my shoulder.

"We will be talking about this later." Everybody was finally dismissed. I dashed to the doors. Why were all the kids moving so slowly…

When I entered the drawing studio, Rosalie was sketching something again. I went to her with a friendly smile.

"Hello." I greeted her eagerly. I liked our time on Saturday and I think I wanted to spend some more time with her. Maybe another weekend trip…

She raised her eyes unwillingly and smiled at me apologetically.

"Hi." She murmured. That was not the reaction I was expecting. Of course, she didn't have to be like an old friend and all smiles and hugs, but a little more enthusiasm from her would have been greatly appreciated. Did I do something wrong? Maybe she didn't enjoy the trip nearly as much as I did…?

But then I saw an almost translucent vision, something very rare for me, of her beloved red BMW smashed and on fire. Looks like Edward was really persuasive in their last conversation. Apparently, he had promised to destroy the beautiful car unless Rosalie stayed away from me. I didn't like that, but it's not like I could do something about it. It hurt. I felt a little sorry for Rosalie, that guy, on the other hand, was really getting on my nerves now.

"Never mind." I said regretfully and went to my seat. I could feel sadness and hardly controllable anger to Edward radiating from her. Rosalie kept stealing glimpses of me throughout the entire class, she cared about me and hated her situation. Most of all she was somewhat afraid that I would shut her off from myself.

The rest of the day wasn't anymore cheerful. Scot was the only reason why I didn't snap at Edward the moment I saw him. This time we were both silent, but I made sure he felt my irritation to him.

Tuesday wasn't much different. I had fun with Scot, Rosalie unwillingly did her best to avoid me and I kept glaring at Edward. How could Mom ever love him, especially so blindly? That was beyond me.

Wednesday was the day we were supposed to get most of our tests' results. Strangely, we didn't get to see any of them. Instead, we had to listen to one more moral for most of the time.

The moment the bell rang I wanted to dash for the doors of the Physics' class.

"Miss Swan, I would like to have a word with you." The teacher called me. What now? I couldn't have failed miserably enough to require a private chat with him. I sighed and went to the man. I saw him looking at my test but there was only one small red underline. Then why did he want to talk to me?

"I wanted to talk to you privately because all of those remarks during my lesson don't apply to your work." He started almost accusingly looking at me. I blushed a little.

"Yes…" I trailed off. What else could I say?

"From reading your work I was absolutely sure, that you knew more than well this subject." He looked straight into my eyes. I blushed a little more. "And when I came to this part I could hardly believe what I was reading."

"Well if you look at this drawing from another perspective…" I tried though I knew I was talking nonsense.

"Why did you make that mistake?" His eyes were clearly accusing and he was sure I knew how to do the exercise right.

What could I say to this? That I didn't want to score maximum when most of the students failed? That I wanted to fit in? That this was the easiest way for me not to look like a know-it-all and finally blend in the student's body instead of standing out? What did he want to hear? The truth was hardly something he could expect…or understand.

I decided to stay silent and only blushed even more. This time I welcomed that surge of blood in my cheeks.

"Alright." He sighed. "Have a nice Day of Arts tomorrow." He smiled at me sympathetically and I got out of the room. Unfortunately my problems were nowhere near finished for today.

"So? You failed like all the others?" Mitchell was waiting for me. Wasn't he over with me? I thought that whatever girl had put him straight! I had no wish of having him as one more of my problems… "I got a glimpse of my results. I didn't score much but at least I passed." He said proudly and a little arrogantly. I guess this was not the time to tell him that I got A, even if it was without a plus. "Hey, I heard they are going to let us rewrite it, so if you want help with preparations, I would be more than glad to do that." His words being completely innocent didn't convince me at all. His thoughts were full of images of us doing anything but studying. I needed a way out of this. And fast. I glanced around and saw Scot coming to me.

"Problems?" He asked me.

"Not really." I looked meaningfully from him to Mitchell.

"How about you go somewhere else to have fun?" Scot told the boy and put his hand on the middle of my back and led me away. I was grateful for a perfect timing. And strangely I didn't shake him off.

"So, how were the test's results?" He asked casually.

"You know, the usual. Maybe even worse than that." I shrugged with a little smile. I decided to leave out the place, where all my results are great, so getting A is hardly extraordinary, or rather even worse than my usual A+.

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry. Even I got only a C from Biology." He tried to make me feel better. Well, he had no idea about my situation and it's the thought that counts, isn't it? Therefore I smiled at him. It was nice talking to him.

The next day, Thursday, was the long awaited Day of Arts. Gediminas and I were playing instruments, most likely piano so we had a music lesson and P.E. which was turned into a class for learning to dance. Fortunately, I didn't have to do the last one.

From what I had heard, most of my friends and acquaintances were having drawing classes today, so I was supposed to feel rather safe playing in front of people who didn't know me, well anyway, as safe as I could ever feel playing while having an audience.

When my brother and I entered the classroom, I noticed that Edward was already sitting. Typical, my day couldn't be great and easy, could it?

Entering the class Gediminas stopped and looked at the corner of the room. There was a flute lying. He looked at me.

"Do you still remember 'Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune' by Debussy?" His eyes sparkled playfully.

"Of course I do." I smiled. It was, after all, my favorite composition. He smiled back at me and went to the teacher.

"Good morning. I'm sorry, is that flute available for playing this lesson?" Gediminas asked gently.

"Yes, of course." Teacher's eyes widened at the unexpected question. "If you know how to play it, that is." She was suspicious.

"Yes, I do. I was also wondering, my sister and I signed for solos, but now, that flute and piano are both available, we would like to play a duet. Could we do that?" Polite as always.

"If you think you are good enough, you can." The woman still did not believe that we will be playing and especially a duet. Most of the other students were singing and only a few dared to use guitars. I chuckled at that. My brother looked at me and I nodded.

"Yes, we can. Thank you." He finished smiling and nodded. He sat by me and I felt safer than ever.

Most of the kids in class were girls. They were rehearsing some pop songs. They would not have been so terrible if any of them had voices or musical education. Not that I had, but I didn't sing at least, and I did have great teachers (a brother who was a natural talent and a bunch of friends studying in music schools).

I couldn't help but wince every time somebody tried reaching a way too high note or made improvisations with words.

Then it was Edward's turn to perform.

He sat in front of everybody completely calm and focused on piano. The moment his fingers touched the keyboard I smiled. I suppose I should have expected this to be his composition of choice. Though I did have to admit that he was perfect at Debussy's Clair de Lune. It was magnificent. When he finished, some of the girls started murmuring and giggling, annoying me. Gediminas, the teacher and I gently and slightly applauded. Edward, however, just returned to his place indifferent and determined to be bored for the rest of the class.

Two boys tried playing a duet with guitars but there was no synchronization, the teacher only nodded at them when they finished and then it was our turn. Gediminas took the flute while I sat by the piano. He took a deep breath and started. He was really great. A few moments later I joined in playing on the keyboard. I enjoyed this play way too much. As half a vampire Gediminas' lungs could contain a little more air than those of complete humans, therefore no notes were cut off due to a lack of air. Sometimes he would be very quiet giving the floor to me but then he would return with all his might. I loved playing this composition with my brother.

Most of the others could hardly pull through 5 minutes and ours took no less than 10. When we finished, everybody was astounded by our performance. The teacher stared at us in disbelief. 15 seconds... 30 seconds... This was starting to feel a bit awkward...

Finally the teacher started clapping slowly and quietly. I noticed that even Edward was looking at us, his eyes wide in surprise. We did play well, but he didn't have to gawk at us like that.

"Was that one of Debussy's compositions?" The teacher asked.

"Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun." Edward stated rather loudly. He still couldn't take his eyes off of us and somehow I felt proud that I did such a great job playing, we finally got his attention and made him realize that we could do some things just as great as he did. The teacher was still looking at me and I nodded. She nodded back at me and we returned to our places. Edward kept his eyes on us for the rest of the class and I felt rather smug about that.

My next class was dance. Just like during my P.E. period, I decided to sit this one out. They were learning to dance jive. Most of the time I could hardly contain my laughter as my classmates helplessly stumbled around in such easy dance steps. I looked over to Gediminas. He was wincing almost all the time because all those mental voices kept peeking when somebody stamped on other's foot. Half an hour later the teacher was still insisting on that they keep practicing. Eventually, some girl lost her patience and suggested that the pair who shows the best performance gets an A+ from P.E. I have no idea why, but the teacher agreed. Scot came to me at once.

"Care to share this fun with me." He asked eagerly. I was getting rather bored and decided to take the offer.

When the music started I was pleased to find him being a not so terrible dancer, though he was nowhere near Alexander's techniques, style and grace. I did manage to have some fun. Unanimously we were called the best pair. By the end of the class I heard a message from our principle over the loudspeakers:

"Mr. Barret, Miss Caret, Miss Cullen, Miss Cullen, Mr. Cullen, Mr. Cullen, Mr. Cullen, Miss Randel, Miss Swan, Mr. Swan and Mr. Tenler come to the principle's office after this lesson."

What did we do?

**

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**

Thank you for reading. A lot of things happening in this chapter: Adrian feeling closer to Scot, Rosalie forbidden from getting anywhere close to the kids and Edward sees how talented and much like him his children are. ******So tell me what you liked and what you didn't.**


	26. Unexpected

**The show goes on and the temperature is rising.  
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**The biggest THANK YOU to Jennifer L. Cullen for all her help.  
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**Enjoy reading!**

_

* * *

Previously:_

_By the end of the class I heard a message from our principle over the loudspeakers:_

_"Mr. Barret, Miss Caret, Miss Cullen, Miss Cullen, Mr. Cullen, Mr. Cullen, Mr. Cullen, Miss Randel, Miss Swan, Mr. Swan and Mr. Tenler come to the principle's office after this lesson."_

_What did we do?_

**This time:**

**Adrian****'s POV**

Our teacher looked at my brother and I and nodded for us to go. We grabbed our bags and left.

When we entered the reception, all the Cullens were already there and a bunch of other kids entered just after us. The lady behind the desk disappeared in the principle's office for a few minutes. I noticed that Alice's eyes lit up when she saw Gediminas and I entering, Jasper looked curious and Rosalie's features turned apologetic. Edward one more time tried ignoring us but I could feel his eagerness to glance at us at least once.

The lady came out and told us we could come in.

"Good afternoon, sir.", "Good afternoon.", "Hello." Everybody greeted.

"Hello. Come in." The man greeted us and we lined up in two semicircles, boys standing behind girls. "I called you all here to talk about your tests' results and the next week." He paused and looked us over. "Most of the other students failed or at best barely passed the tests whereas you all got A's or even an A+, and you all participated in today's activities very well." He paused again to let the information sink in. I got A from all the tests?! Yippee!!! The Cullens smiled pleased but expecting nothing less. The rest of us seemed to start shining, we were so glad and surprised. "Starting with tomorrow and throughout all the next lessons will be spent revising, correcting mistakes and rewriting all the tests. Therefore all you are excused from the next six days of school and are welcome to come back after a week on Monday. Consider this a well earned holiday. Of course, you can come to revisions and corrections but other than that your teachers asked me to tell you that they will not let you in during the tests and there is no point for you to be there anyway. Do you have any questions?" He raised his eyebrows. After a few moments of silence he nodded pleased and smiled. "Then have a good time and you can go." He smiled and turned his eyes back to papers in front of him.

We all left and went to the parking lot.

"Shopping!" Alice bounced to their car. Rosalie smiled at her sister but her expression soured as soon as she looked at me. I just shrugged smiling, what else could I do? I mounted my beauty and left.

Surprisingly, when we got home, Grandpa was there.

"So, what do we do? I have no wish to stay home all week. Care to visit a few friends in Europe?" I eyed my brother. He shook his head.

"I have a better and much more needed idea." He smiled at me and went to Grandpa. "Hello, grandfather." He greeted eagerly. "We both got straight A's from all the tests and got a week of holidays!"

"Wow! Really? I am so proud of you." His face lit up. "But I am going to be at work all the time… I won't be able to go camping even this weekend. I have so much work to do. I'm sorry." He felt terrible and I couldn't understand that glitter in my brother's eyes.

"Oh." He pretended to be sorry though he was anything but. "Well, then maybe Adrian and I could go camping on our own? We know how to take care after each other, we will bring our mobile phones in case something goes wrong and we have found a beautiful clearing in the forest not far from here." He paused for a short moment. "We would really like to go." He finished. I couldn't believe my eyes, but Grandpa was actually considering this thought!

"I guess, you are grown up enough to take care after each other…" He said slowly.

"We will be back next Sunday evening. Don't worry. We have been camping before a lot of times." My brother winked at me mischievously. Camping alone? Before? The only times we went camping without even our friends were when we went hunting. Hunting. Ouch. That word alone reminded to me how long was since the last time I drank blood. The pain in my throat was not scorching, but it was definitely burning. A hunting trip was definitely a good idea.

"Alright. You can go. But I want you to leave early in the morning or right away so that you can setup your camp before nightfall. I assume you are taking your motorcycles?" Grandpa sighed.

"Yes. And we are leaving today as soon as we pack everything." Gediminas smiled and looked at me. "My clothes are in my bag, I will get the food and you pack your things. 10 minutes and I'll be waiting outside." He went to the kitchen. We are leaving now? Great. My clothes are all in one pile anyway, all I need to do was put them in my bag. I smiled and ran upstairs.

7 minutes later I kissed Grandpa goodbye and we left. This was going to be a wonderful and memorable week.

**Gediminas' POV**

Adrian's enthusiasm was contagious. I couldn't help myself but smile at her. We had a few hours ride ahead of us, but she was already shining and willing to race all the way. Truth be told, we had no idea where we would be staying. I guess a little clearing by the road would be enough; all we actually needed was a place to park our motorcycles.

The only problem right now was Adrian's thirst. It was really becoming troublesome. She had never been so thirsty before. Of course, we had never tasted human's blood and even the one of carnivore's repelled us, but today I felt somehow glad that this area was hardly populated and we were leaving even that little behind us. My sister was joyful today, but I was starting to worry, she needed to hunt and fast.

After an hour ride, I noticed a small area by the road where trees were scarce. I motioned for Adrian to slow down and follow me. A few moments later we parked our motorcycles between trees and put all our gear in the saddle bags. As soon as my sister took off her helmet, her head snapped to the direction of a fox's movement. That very scent sickened me, but considering her thirst and the fact that there was hardly any other living being nearby, it was better to get something down her throat than nothing at all. I nodded and she dashed through the trees.

15 minutes later I found her near a dry body of a fox. She was grimacing. Looks like today meal's taste was worse than ever.

"That was disgusting..." she almost started vomiting. That was strange, but I could understand the aversion.

"There are a few deer not far away." I smiled and felt my own thirst better than before.

"They can't be worse than this." She grimaced once again. "Let's race there." She sprang into running.

"Leave some for me!" I shouted playfully though I knew I would easily beat her there.

When I drank my elk, I noticed that Adrian was waiting by the trees. She didn't attack this herd though she was thirsty. Maybe even more thirsty than before that fox!

"What's wrong?" This was not natural, even for us.

"Nothing. I just don't think I can force any more blood down my throat..." She fell silent.

"There's a small lake nearby. Wanna go there?" I raised my eyebrows and she nodded.

We ran again but this time she fell behind considerably and I didn't even have to push myself. Adrian stopped about ten yards away from the water.

"Why don't you have fun and I will get some rest." She mumbled. "I don't feel so well." I raised my eyebrows at her, worried. "Don't. I'll be fine." She closed her eyes and sat behind some trees.

I wasn't going to let her out of my eyesight. But maybe she did need only some rest.

I went for a short swim. When I got out of the water, my sister was fully awake, terribly thirsty, a little scared and what's even worse, she felt like having a flu. For somebody else this would be a beginning of an infection. Take to the hospital, some IVs, a lot of rest and no problems. But this is Adrian we are talking about. We don't get sick! Ever! And there is no way to stick a needle into her arm. She was feeling cold and hot at the same time. This wasn't natural!

"You alright?" I frowned.

"Not like you can help." she snapped. "I'll survive..." my sister trailed off.

I knelt by her side but she moved away a little. I could almost feel fear in her but she had never been afraid of me before! She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. Her words were mumbled but her mind was a mess. She was remembering cooking for Mom, our first drive with friend's jeep, one of many hunting trips, Alexander's song for her, reading some kind of encyclopedia, recent Physic's lesson, drawing some lake... Why would she remember such things? At all and more importantly right now? There was something wrong. Definitely. But what? And especially, what should I do?

"I am going to get our bags. I will be back in half an hour." I whispered to my little sister. She mumbled something unintelligibly.

I stood up and ran as fast as I could.

When I got back, her eyes were frantic. I dropped our bags nearby and got down to her.

"Where were you? Why did you take so long?" Adrian was angry.

"I got our things, but now I'm here and I am not going anywhere." I tried soothing her but she seemed unable to relax.

"Good. Don't leave me again." She said sternly and closed her eyes.

I wrapped a blanket round her and sat in front of her. Maybe it was only an infection and all she needed was some rest, maybe she will feel better when she wakes up... It was a late night and I fell asleep.

Morning was chilly and still very early. I couldn't even see sun and there was no light under the trees. I stretched out my hands and yawned. I smelled a deer very close and Adrian's mind was blank as paper. I decided to take the chance and completely satisfy my thirst.

When I came back, she hadn't moved an inch. Instead of thoughts, there were only images and colors in her mind. This had never happened before! I had never seen such things in anybody's mind! It was wrong!

"Hey, how do you feel?" I gently said to her and bent down, but she was still. "Adrian!" I raised my tone. No answer. I took her hand and squeezed it a little. "Adrian! Come on! Look at me!" She was almost burning!

Finally, she managed to open her eyes. But they were wrong. She looked tired, weak and vulnerable.

_Go away... _She thought almost dreamily, _don't... _

Coherence was beyond her.

"Think about how you feel." It was obvious that she couldn't speak.

_Tired... _She had been unable to sleep all night! What was I thinking about leaving her side and even closing my eyes?!

_thirsty... _The very thought about water was painful for her and she shuddered. My sister couldn't stop little swallowing convulsions that were even more excruciating. Thankfully, they stopped after a few long seconds.

_cold... _She was definitely running a fever.

_can't..._

"What?! What can't you do?" This was far more serious than I had thought!

_move... _She couldn't move her fingers and she hadn't felt my touch because she couldn't feel her right hand at all!

My sister was seriously sick and I had no idea what to do!

Okay, breath! I needed my mind clear to get her out of this mess.

Obviously, I couldn't bring her home because Charlie would be there.

I could certainly not take her to the hospital. She was half a vampire, her skin was invulnerable, her heart was humming like a bird and they wouldn't be able even to test her blood.

I desperately needed something and fast!

It took me one long moment to realize my last and only option. I had nowhere else to turn and for my little sister I would do anything.

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	27. Beginning of nothing or everything

**And here it goes on...**

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**Enjoy!**

* * *

Adrian was sitting in front of me. I had helped her lock her muscles so that she wouldn't fall, but even now I could feel her legs trembling a little. With my driving style, it was only a seven minute ride, but even that seemed like an eternity.

I slowed down coming to their driveway and finally stopped for a few precious minutes a hundred meters away to let them know that it was us coming.

Adrian started screaming in her mind from pain and I engulfed her with my mental shield. I could wait no longer and slowly revved the engine.

I stopped a few meters away and dismounted my motorcycle leaving my sister still on it. She looked like she was carved out of rock; there was no usual blush on her cheeks. I turned to the house and saw Carlisle on the front stairs. Rosalie was a step behind him, looking at Adrian. Everybody else was inside, still as stones, waiting to see what's going to happen here. I took a deep breath and made myself move forward.

"Good morning." I did my best to make my voice sound even. "I am sorry to barge in here like this."

"It's alright." Carlisle smiled a little, but stopped when he saw that there was nothing right. Rosalie shifted uncomfortably still watching my sister. "Is everything okay?"

"No. Not really." I sighed and looked at Adrian.

"What's wrong?" Rosalie lost her patience and moved forward.

"I don't know. I think she's sick." I murmured. My sister's thoughts went blank as if she was about to loose her conscious.

"We should get her inside." Carlisle brought back my attention.

I took Adrian in my hands. Rosalie held the front doors open till we were in the house. Carlisle walked in front of me.

"Put her on the couch." He led the way to the living room where an even and soft like bed couch stood. I laid my sister down and kneeled beside her. "Has she ever been sick?"

"No. We never get sick." It was difficult to form a coherent thought when my mind was near hysterics. "Not even cold."

"Adrian. Look at me! How do you feel?!" Carlisle raised his voice hovering over my sister.

"She can't speak." I shook my head.

"I will have to take some blood of hers to run some tests." Carlisle looked at me. His mind was running with possible diseases.

"Her skin is invulnerable. Even if a vampire tears it apart, it will heal instantly." I looked skeptically at him.

"I need to know how she feels and what's wrong with her." He insisted. Rosalie came closer.

"She can't feel or move her right arm, her legs are slightly trembling, and she is tired but unable to sleep. She cannot understand a single word we say, but at least she recognizes our voices." I blurted out. Now it sounded even worse than before.

"When did this start?" Carlisle frowned.

I closed my eyes to force myself into thinking. "Yesterday afternoon. We were hunting. She dried a fox, but the taste was somewhat wrong." Could this be the problem? "She is still thirsty, for both blood and water. But the very thought about drinking causes violent convulsions in her throat…" I trailed off.

Carlisle looked worried. He wanted to go upstairs and flip through some books but he didn't dare to move away.

"I'll stay." I nodded. He glanced at me for a moment and dashed upstairs.

"She is going to be fine." Rosalie tried soothing me. Probably for the first time in her lifetime she was seriously worried about somebody else than herself and her car.

"Rosalie." Edward hissed a few meters away. She turned to glare at him.

_You! Moron! Idiot! Imbecile! _And so on and so forth. To make it short, she was screaming at the top of her mental lungs all the insults she could think of. If she had voiced it, I would have been deaf by now. _Foolish!_ _Stupid! Dumb! Mindless! _Well, I always knew that she was not the subtle one… _How could you? This is all your fault! If you had thought about anyone but yourself, we would have been together and this would have never happened! _Even Adrian's painful moans weren't loud enough to be heard over her shouting. Edward cringed and backed away a little. He hadn't expected this kind of reaction.

"I'm sorry. I would have never come here in the first place, if I had anywhere else to go." I murmured to no one in particular.

"Don't'. You are always welcome here. You are a part of our family." Rosalie gently caressed my hair. I felt hopeless and it was nice to have someone at my side. "You belong in here, with us." She softly whispered. Honestly, I had never expected this from her, but for once I truly believed that she cared and felt protective of us.

Emmett came to her side and put a hand over her shoulders. He gently tucked away a lock of hair from my sister's face and she stiffened even more.

"Careful." I said without thinking. "She can bite."

"My little girl can bite?" He tried joking. I could see that he just wanted to lighten up the mood, but his comment sounded weird. Rosalie shoved her elbow into his stomach; she wasn't up for joking either.

I looked back at Adrian. She was so weak, fragile, in pain and thirsty… and hot! "She's running a fever." I quietly said. There was no point in talking louder, Carlisle would hear me anyway. He almost dropped a book, something very rare for a vampire.

"Isn't she always warmer than other people?" Emmett brought my mind back.

"Not like this." I shook my head and then it all clicked into places. Hydrophobia, pain, general weakness, low fever, aggression… I didn't want to believe it.

"It can't be. Vampires don't get sick with rabies!" Carlisle was standing in front of me, incredulity in his eyes.

"She's half a human." I whispered. He started thinking about hooking my sister up with some IV's, but I just shook my head. "Her skin is indestructible." I felt devastated.

"What's the big deal?" Emmett looked at Carlisle, who was as perplexed as I was.

"It is lethal for humans, unless they get antidote, quickly." Rosalie paused. It was difficult for her to voice the next thought. "And there is no way to administer the drug to her." She whispered and leaned into her lover for support, but unwilling to let my sister out of her sight. I felt a little grateful for her for answering the question.

We stayed like this for hours. It was quiet around, almost seemed that the world stopped spinning. Sometime later Carlisle went back to his books and computer to look for help, Emmett disappeared upstairs and Rosalie leaned into wall, looking for some support. I shifted to sit on the ground by my sister's couch and laid my head beside her. Everything else was lost to me.

Hours later I finally snapped out of daze. Adrian was lying still, her mind was a chaos. Rosalie was a few meters away, watching her. She was planning all the ways they will be having fun after this mess is gone, how she was going to do everything to make my sister smile. There was no doubt in her thoughts that this could end not so happily at all. I felt warmth inside of me, it was nice to know that somebody cared about my sister so much, and it wasn't her boyfriend. Rosalie looked like a statue, oblivious to everything around her. Emmett was upstairs, thinking of ways to bring back laughter. Edward was pacing back and forth to his stereo, unable to pick out the music he wanted to listen to. Carlisle was reading, something in Italian. Esme was sketching a new house, I could tell from her thoughts that she wanted to talk to us, but she didn't know where to begin. Alice was lying by Jasper, who was… Ouch! I had completely forgotten this.

"Sorry, Jasper." I murmured and put my physical shield around my sister. He sighed with relief and was thankful. I almost felt embarrassed. This was the last place I wanted to be, but for Adrian… It's not like I had much of a choice.

Hours later Emmett with his oldest brother tried sneaking up on me. I almost chuckled at their naivety.

"Hello." I smiled as much as I could while they were still behind me. My eyes were closed.

"Oh, we thought you were sleeping." Emmett felt rather uncomfortable.

"I sleep, but rarely." I looked at them. They were curious to watch us and learn as much as they could.

"Is she awake?" Jasper was cautious.

"She is conscious in a way." I slowly nodded thinking about Adrian. "Our words are a blur to her, but she can pick out our voices."

"Can I feel her?" He wanted for me to let the physical shield down.

"You don't want this." I shook my head at once. I had never expected for him to be willing to experience such pain only to see if he could help reduce it for my sister. "It's way beyond your control." They fell silent for a moment.

"Do you think it would be alright if we played some video games here? That it wouldn't hurt her?" The big guy was careful. He didn't know me at all.

"Sure. It's your home. We are only guests." I shrugged.

"Thanks." He murmured and put in a brand new video game. He and Jasper settled into armchairs in front of TV.

It was a new game that Esme had bought them, something without any kind of violence. The game was a one of yacht racing. I smiled at their thoughts that it was too slow and simple.

"It's too plain. I bet in reality it's even easier." Emmett finally lost his patience when Jasper beat him.

Normally, I would have stayed silent. They were not my favorite people in the world. But this hit my nerve.

"Actually, it's very simplified." I turned to them. "There are tens, sometimes even hundreds, of meters of ropes in a single small yacht. And everything must be in place and correctly tightened so as not to loose control of the boat, which is extremely easy."

They looked at me even more surprised.

"You know how to sail?" Emmett's eyes narrowed on me.

"Yes. It's one of my hobbies." I nodded.

"But it's boring and monotonous." He frowned and Jasper was impatient for me to talk.

"Not when you go out with friends." I slightly shook my head chuckling at some old memories. They looked curiously at me. "A couple of years ago my friends and I went sailing. We got caught in a terrible storm. An hour or so later two of the boys tried blowing away the clouds. Instead, they only managed to get the worst of them above us before they were exhausted." I lightly laughed at the experience that summer. "After a few minutes our main mast was broken and we were left to drift for who knows how long. Eventually I gathered enough courage to send a text message to mom. Of course, it went through only on fifth or sixth try." I could still see her expression when she finally had me in her arms after that little but quite eventful trip. "Bella's eyes were frantic with terror when she saw me. She had called lifeguards and, being deaf, blurted out all she knew about our situation and possible location. They would have most likely told her to stay on shore, but when they saw her so terrified, they took her on board. She didn't let me out of her sight for days after that." I chuckled.

"Wait. Bella was deaf?" Emmett was surprised as well as the rest of them.

"Yes." I frowned a little. "Didn't you know?"

"How could we? We never saw her after she left." He shrugged, but was still waiting for my explanation.

"Edward knew. Didn't he tell you?" I glanced at Jasper.

_What?! Wait till I get my hands on him! _Emmett's thoughts became irritated. He was less than pleased with his brother.

_I DID NOT! _For some reason Edward was also surprised. They all petrified waiting for me to continue.

"Mom lost her hearing still studying at school, during her last spring break in Forks." I watched their reactions.

_How could I not know about that? _Carlisle was astounded.

"I think you were on a hunting trip." I said. There were a few minutes of deafening silence before I thought of a question I always wanted to ask Edward. "If you didn't know that mom was deaf, then why did you call her one during your last conversation?"

_WHAT?! _His family's thoughts turned angry and horrified at his behavior.

"I meant it to be a metaphor and not literally." He felt embarrassed and sad. Looks like he did have no idea about my mother's loss of hearing…

Well, this was only the first of many questions he had to answer. I wasn't very fond of the idea of having to talk to them, but since I was likely to be staying there for at least a few more days, I guess I could make the most of it.

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	28. Questions and answers

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Gediminas' POV**

Adrian was exhausted. She hadn't had any sleep for almost two days. Insomnia was so much worse for her. I sighed and looked around.

Jasper was typing, looking for something to help my sister. Carlisle was reading. Rosalie was still standing meters away like the most beautiful statue. Everybody else was trying not to think about us. Alice was the worst, she couldn't focus even on some new fashion show and this frustrated her lover.

"It's alright, Alice." I murmured. "She won't bite, if you don't get too close."

Pixie was by the end of the couch in an instant. Jasper was relieved, he could finally focus on whatever he was reading and she was glad she could watch my sister, even if it was the only thing she could do to help.

"You're no longer angry at me?" She looked hopefully at me.

I thought about it for less than a moment. "How about we leave it where it was?" I glanced at her. "I have more important things on my mind right now." My eyes glided back to my sister and she understood me.

"Fair enough." She nodded trying to hide her pleased smile.

I could see she was anxious to ask me more about Bella, but she wasn't sure if it would come out alright.

"You know, saying it in your mind is the same as asking it out loud when it comes to talking to me." I smiled trying to push all the negative thoughts out of my mind.

She bit her lower lip. "I can't see the outcome of our conversation." She said hesitantly. I lightly chuckled.

"Now you know how it feels being a simple mere human." I smiled at her. She looked more frustrated than amused.

"I don't like it." She murmured. "I don't understand how Edward can miss silence. Hearing thoughts is a part of him."

"He longs for it, because he remembers it…" I trailed off. Chatting like this with her felt almost normal. It was nice to have somebody to talk about our abilities.

"Do you miss silence?" She suddenly looked at me.

"Do you miss being a human?" I asked her back with a smile on my face.

"No. I don't remember it." She frowned.

"Neither do I." I shrugged. "I have been able to hear thoughts all my life. It's natural for me."

She was quiet for a moment. "Do you think she will ever speak to me?" Alice did her best to keep hope out of her voice.

"Adrian has lost a lot. Especially in the last few years. So, she is kind of afraid, I guess you could call it that, of getting close to somebody and then losing him or her." I paused. "And Edward's rejection, when she was finally ready to talk to him, didn't help her either." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"You think she is ready to try?" She bit her lower lip.

"I know that she wants to try…" I smiled, "… but you will have to start that conversation yourself."

"I hate it when I can't see the future!" She was angry at her situation.

"But it makes this life more interesting." I raised my eyebrows.

Alice only glanced at me and went upstairs to model something for my sister.

Finally glad that his lover was doing something useful, Jasper came downstairs to us. He wanted for me to know his position in this entire situation with mom.

"Can we talk?" he asked quietly and hesitantly.

"Sure." This was going to be interesting.

"Um…" Naturally, he had no idea how to start. "I can't apologize to Bella. So maybe…" He couldn't find the right words. "All those years ago… Each time one of us wanted to at least talk to Bella, Edward reasoned that she was his lover and it wasn't up to us to do anything. That we had to let them deal with everything by themselves. And that if they made mistakes, they were theirs to make. We all thought that if something went really wrong, we would get in time to correct it. He kept telling us that he was sorting everything out, he wanted for Bella to move on. And that she was understanding him. None of us had any idea how serious and terrible the situation was until Bella left." He paused, relieved he had gotten this out. "And then we made the worst mistake when we decided to wait for her to come home." He fell silent again. "It was my fault in the first place." I stared at him with incredulity. "It all started during her eighteenth birthday when I attacked her." His words were no more than a whisper. "If I had been stronger, we would have been a family, all together and she would be with us."

"You can't get forgiveness from my mom, so you are asking it from me?" My words sounded harsher than I intended them. He just nodded, looking at the carpet rather than me. "You think Bella was angry at you? Or that she blamed you for anything? Do you even know my second name?" He had no idea about it and I almost rolled my eyes at him. "Then why don't you find it out?" I closed my eyes showing that our conversation was over. It was not the result he was hoping deep in his heart, but he understood that it was also not the worst that could have happened either. He stood up, ready to do some more reading hoping to find something for Adrian and making a mental note for himself to get my second name whenever he could. Well, at least none of his family members knew it, so his amazement when he eventually learnt it should be even greater. I liked that thought. He was in for a big surprise, I tried smiling to myself.

Esme was in the kitchen, looking over the little human food resources they had. She was torn by her opposite feelings to us. On one hand, we were the troublemakers, the ones who brought in so much chaos, pain, confusion in her family. For that she wanted us out of here. But on the other hand, we were Bella and Edward's, her children's, kids, making us her grandchildren. And my sister was the only one who unintentionally managed to make Rosalie think and care about more than her. Because of this she wanted to come and hug me and stay by my sister and my side. Two opposites. It was difficult for Esme to decide on her true feelings, but one thing was for certain, she did have a strong need to make sure we were alright.

I tried tuning everybody out when I heard footsteps nearby. I opened my eyes to see the person who had been fighting and debating his urgency to see us since we came here. He was looking at Adrian.

"Why did you come here?" He frowned at turned to me. His voice was harsh, thoughts demanding. At this moment he was the last person to whom I was going to explain myself.

"Why did you leave mom?" I asked back. There was no love or softness in my voice either. I had a right to know. He, however, was shocked by my bluntness.

Silence fell, but I was not the one to break it.

"I left Bella to protect her." His face and thoughts bore the image of complete innocence. I raised my eyebrows at him. "I wanted for her to have a life that she couldn't have with me." He changed tactics.

"So, those months before you went to Volturi to ask for death and mom had to come to save you that time taught you nothing? You didn't understand that you were the love of her life?" I put some incredulity to my words. He looked away for a moment, ashamed of what had happened. Shame was not what I was aiming for, but for start it would do.

"Alice couldn't see her and Bella's mother moved somewhere else, I had no idea where to find her. So I decided to wait for her coming to visit Charlie. I was sure, as a human, she definitely had to do that some time in her life." He was trying to convince himself rather than me.

"And since when did my mom do anything similar to such things like any other human?" He was not escaping me with this little. He sighed, gazing away.

"You don't understand!" He got angry. Anger is good. It provokes truth, our real feelings.

"Then explain." I challenged him.

"It's not so simple." He hissed. I cocked my head keeping my eyes on his. "I am a vampire. She is…" He paused. They were still not used to the thought of mom's death. Interesting. "…was a human." He forced it out. "It was dangerous for her even to be by my side. I could have easily killed her. And you mentioned the Volturi yourself, they were going to hunt her down unless I changed her and I was never in my existence condemning her to this purgatory."

"And bringing up two half vampires was safe, you think?" I raised my eyebrows at him again and he glared at me. Okay, the fact that he had no idea about us was to be left for later.

"What about Eva?" That was something my sister was definitely going to ask and I wanted to have an answer for her. If he could, he would have blushed deep crimson.

_One of my worst mistakes ever._ He was too ashamed to say it out loud.

"Why did you even bother to notice her in the first place?" I was not letting this go so easily.

"I couldn't leave Bella. That much I knew. But I wanted for her to live on. I thought that maybe if she thought I had moved on, then she also would and have a life. Or at least try." Edward sighed. He was sincere.

"And when it didn't happen…?" I wanted for him to say it.

"I didn't give up and kept pushing it further…" He trailed off.

"Only to see it blow up right in your face and make everything unimaginably worse to everyone." I finished for him. "Well done." I forced a critical smile. It hurt him. But this time pain was good. He needed that to understand himself and what was happening around him. I paused for a few moments.

"Every time I hurt her, it pained me even worse. I will always hate myself for my last words to her. They were meant to push her away from me, to show her that I was not suitable for her. And that was the only time I succeeded, the only time she actually listened to me. I just never felt any happiness for it." He finished sarcastic.

"What happened to Eva?" His pain was the least interesting thing for me.

He couldn't understand my question at first. "What about her? My family hated her and, when Bella was gone, I couldn't even make myself look at her." He frowned. "I dumped her the moment I learnt Bella had left."

"What about that girl in the club?" I reminded him what he was craving to forget.

He seemed annoyed, but this time not at me. "I never went back." He bit his lower lip. "My family was getting irritated at me always being sad and passive. So Emmett finally threatened to destroy my cars unless I went out. When that didn't work, he was willing to go for my piano. I got an ultimatum: either I try solving this situation with you two or I try going out and having some fun or my piano will be no longer. The worst part was that they all agreed." He sighed tiredly and shook his head.

I let the silence fall around us once more as I listened to my sister's heavy breathing. We were so young and yet I had already seen her pull through so much. We had survived fights, natural and unnatural nature disasters… No matter how terribly we sometimes looked after everything, I had always been there for her and I could help her. Now seeing her so fragile, having no certainty for our future and especially being so helpless, for once I felt vulnerable myself. All those times when nobody believed, we survived, barely but still. And now we were losing a fight to some illness. I couldn't get more frustrated…

"Do you honestly think that the Italians are the biggest threat in the world?" I looked at Edward with amusement. He didn't understand my question. "Are you truly that naïve?"

"What are you talking about? They are the biggest power. There is no way to defeat them." He frowned.

"They are so strong and unrestrained only because they are too weak to pose any kind of threat to the big players." I smiled and almost laughed at his expression. His face was a mix of horror and incredulity.

"You have no idea what you are talking about." He finally stated dismissing the remaining thoughts.

"Remember how mom was a magnet for all troubles?" I knew he could remember that just well. "Apparently, we inherited that feature. Just the kind of our let's call them accidents is slightly different." He didn't want to accept my explanation. "We learnt about out abilities and how to use them in various situations when we were very young." I smiled. He wasn't convinced, but I wasn't up for an explanation. I paused for another moment.

"I came here, because this is the only place I could go. This is where my family lives." And it didn't matter how I had felt before coming. Everything was slowly changing. I looked at Adrian. "My sister is your daughter." I sighed and turned to look him straight in the eyes. "I am your son." I paused briefly. "The only question left, are you ready to be our father?"

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	29. Waiting

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Gediminas' POV**

I closed my eyes. Our conversation was over. Edward needed time to think, I craved for at least a little rest.

Hours later I woke up to find Adrian light asleep. Her face was so peaceful, finally free of pain.

I let my mind wander around the house. Rosalie was watching my sister unable to turn her thoughts away from her. She wanted to make Adrian happy and always be by her side, the way only a mother could think of. Speaking about thoughts, Edward was nowhere to be found, probably hunting because his eyes were pitch black last time I saw him. Alice was trying to occupy her mind with whatever she could lay her hands on: from rearranging her wardrobe to sketching some new clothes and ordering what she thought my sister would like. Esme wanted to come downstairs, but she didn't know how to start a conversation with me. Eventually, she decided to go shopping for some human food. Emmett was giving their basement a thorough rummage for ideas how to cheer everybody up. Carlisle was reading some ancient scripts, he was frustrated. A feeling he shared with at least one more member of his family. Jasper was reading the same book for a third time, hoping he had missed something. Pain in his throat was hardly endurable for me, let alone him. But he was determined to make himself useful. Like his thirst was any good to anyone.

"Jasper, there is nothing in it." I murmured. There was no point in him hurting. And that was not what I wanted. "Alice is thirsty." I paused. He stopped reading, sighed and thought about a hunt with his lover. All this stress was getting to him. "Go." I whispered and they both dashed through the doors.

I knew Alice and Jasper wanted to help, as well as Carlisle, Rosalie, Esme, even Emmett. But they could do almost nothing. I could do nothing. There was no drug that we could give to my sister. I had caught myself thinking that maybe I should also do some reading. Not that it would be helpful, but at least I could put my mind elsewhere than just my sister. All we could do was wait. There was no one who could help Adrian.

Speaking about help, my mobile phone vibrated from a message. Charlie was not supposed to call us. And everybody else used my sister's number to contact us. They were rather patient usually. When I saw the sender's ID, I could only sigh. Who else would not be satisfied by calling my sister and getting no answer…

'_Hi. Adrian is not responding. Everything is okay? Tell her to get to me as soon as she can.' _

It was Alexander. He was definitely not the person I wanted to talk to. I wondered, how long it was going to take him to call when I didn't reply… My phone started vibrating again. I was definitely not going to answer it. If I told him my sister was sick, he would be here in an hour tops. And he had no experience in healing half vampires. There was no way I was letting him anywhere close to my sister when she was sick.

Rosalie looked curiously at me. The sound of my phone was distracting at best and irritating at worst. Eventually it stopped. I sighed in relief only to have it buzzing once more a few minutes later. Come on! Couldn't he get the message that I was not in a mood to talk to him?

"Charlie is calling?" Were Rosalie's first words almost since we came here. She was ready to create a story for Charlie how we were having a great time and staying at theirs till the end of the week.

"That would be too easy." I sighed. "It's her boyfriend. She left her mobile phone at home and now he is calling me." I grumbled.

"That Scot guy?" She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"No." I exclaimed. "Alexander. Her boyfriend." I emphasized the last word. She frowned not knowing any boy by that name. "You haven't met him." I dismissed the subject. Finally my mobile phone turned silent. I looked at it. Seven missed calls. His determination to get to my sister could be really annoying.

Rosalie didn't like the idea that my sister had such a close friend and she didn't know a thing about him. Not that she would trust him even if she did know him…

"How is she?" Carlisle interrupted my silent monologue.

"The same." I looked at Adrian. "At least she is not getting worse." I tried sounding optimistic, because everybody else was sad and almost depressed.

Carlisle slowly nodded. "My friend is working in a lab. He is doing some research on a drug from rabies. He travels a lot. Maybe he will be somewhere nearby in the next few days. I could give him a call…" He was sure his old colleague would help. The problem was Carlisle's age. They had worked together over twenty years ago.

"I will get the drug." I nodded. He looked surprised at me. "I will tell him that I am your grandson. You had children when you worked together. He shouldn't be suspicious."

I could tell from his thoughts that the idea about me calling myself his grandchild was more than appealing to him, but he quickly chastised himself for such thoughts. It was not the time. I smiled. There was no point in fooling myself any longer, I needed a normal family and I wanted to be the kid, not the man of the house.

Carlisle smiled back, nodded and disappeared upstairs.

Our mutual acceptance could be a start. All I needed now was Adrian to get better. Without her I couldn't imagine myself staying anywhere near them. It would be too much of a reminder.

"You got here on your motorcycle. Where's Adrian's?" Rosalie finally managed to tear her eyes away from my sister.

"Somewhere by the roadside…" It was of no interest for me. Who could care about a piece of metal in such situation? "She was in no condition to ride herself." I put my head near the little girl on the couch and closed my eyes.

"I will get it for you." The woman at my side whispered.

Hours later I woke up to feel almost nobody in the house. Emmett had probably taken Rosalie for a short hunt, Alice and Jasper weren't back and Esme was outside almost too far for me to hear her.

I glanced at my sister who was still asleep. She looked so fragile. That moment I wanted mom to be here with us just for that. To be.

Carlisle shifted in his chair upstairs in his studio. He was talking with Edward. This should be interesting.

"_They are your children."_ The older man explained something.

"I know. And I want to be their father. But I am not sure…" The youngster said quietly.

"_Nobody is making you do anything. This is your decision. But you have to know, that they are a part of this family and I will do what I can so that they join us as soon as they finish high school." _Carlisle was certain of what he wanted to happen.

"But what if I am not…?" Edward trailed off.

"_We will help you." _His father smiled at him reassuringly. "_I am sure Rosalie will do everything to take a good care after them."_ His smile broadened. "_Especially, make sure you're a perfect father."_

"I will be putting them in constant danger. They are only half vampires. What if I do something wrong and they get hurt because of me? The Volturi do not know about them. If they stay with us, they…" He was scared to see us hurt. If only he knew… I shook my head. We have already seen far worse than some Italians. He just didn't want to believe me. We didn't need anyone to protect us. We were more than capable of doing that by ourselves. What we wanted was a family to love and be open to.

"_We will be there no matter what. If Aro comes, we will take care after Gediminas and Adrian. We will make them safe." _Carlisle was patient. I could only admire him.

"How can you be so confident?" Edward sighed.

"_Because I am your father." _Smile was evident in his soft voice.

"But what if…?" The younger man was hesitant and stubborn. He honestly believed that staying away from us would be safest, but he didn't want to leave us either. I didn't like this. A little pain for him was good, but pushing him away was not on my list. This is how his and mom's relationship started falling apart. Let's just hope that for us it was only a beginning.

"Stop it!" The older man raised his tone. They had been talking about this for quite a while and it was enough for him. Even though he loved his son implicitly, now we were his top priority and the youngster in front of him was no longer a small and vulnerable child. He was a man who had to take full responsibility for his life and would have to make up his mind himself. "Let's go downstairs."

I straightened sitting on the floor. Carlisle came slightly smiling. Edward followed him, but turned for the piano and I soon heard quiet mom's lullaby. I had to admit that it was beautiful.

"My friend will be in Seattle airport tomorrow afternoon. He will bring a few vials. I told him you will be there." For once his eyes were hopeful. I nodded grateful.

Emmett and Rosalie came back. I had been right, they were gone for a short hunt. She was glad to find my sister still asleep. I smiled at them both.

"Maybe we should take Adrian with us in my jeep. Then we could give her the drug at once." The big guy suggested.

"On other circumstances I would love to see that." I laughed. They looked surprised at me. I hung my head in frustration when I remembered that they knew almost nothing about us.

"She is in pain, so we are not moving her." Carlisle looked at his youngest son. "But what's so funny?" He frowned at me. I almost rolled my eyes.

"My sister is afraid of riding a car." Rosalie's eyes widened in incredulity. "And if you put her like this in your jeep… Well, let's just say you will have an excuse to buy a new one." I chuckled.

"Why?" Rosalie frowned.

"Adrian never sits behind the driver. She is too afraid." I started explaining. "You put her in and she will freak out." I paused. "When she is finished, there will be only a piece of battered metal left." I chuckled.

"She gladly rides a motorcycle, but she has problems with cars?" Emmett frowned incredulously.

"Serious ones." I smiled. They wanted to hear the story. Well, I had plenty of time anyway… "When we were about seven, we got into a car crash. A terrible one. Adrian was sitting behind the driver, I was sitting near him in front. Another vehicle crashed into us and…" I paused again. I had never told anyone about this. Not even mom. "Our car turned upside down a few times while it slid down a slope. It was a miracle we survived. Not even a scratch. A boy who was driving was only shaken. We all were. A girl next to my sister… She wasn't that lucky. Adrian and I were leaving the next day, so we couldn't be associated with this. Our bikes were riding behind us. We took them and left with an agreement never to talk about this." I sighed sadly.

"The girl?" Carlisle carefully asked already knowing my answer.

"We were in L.A. during her funerals." I hung my head. I will never forgive myself for not being by her brother's side back then.

"I'm sorry." He murmured. And he was. On the other hand, he was also glad he asked me before making my sister get into one of their cars.

"So taking your sister for a ride…?" Rosalie was only interested in Adrian.

"Would be a nice scene to watch." I tried smiling. "I am just not sure if I could control her when there is nothing left of that piece of metal." Emmett wanted to see my sister destroying something, just not his beloved jeep.

"Then I will take you to the airport." He nodded to me.

"Thanks, but as long as she is asleep, I want to go shopping and get some of her favorite food. I will leave a bit earlier unless she wakes up." I had to make sure my sister had everything she might need when she regains consciousness.

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	30. What's next?

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The night is darkest just before the dawn.

Or is it that the sun shines the brightest just before the nightfall?

**Adrian's POV**

When I woke up it was warm and soft. I noticed a blanket around me.

"Hello." Jasper was sitting beside me on the floor. "How do you feel?"

"I don't know." I could only murmur. "Am I hurting you?" I got worried. I didn't want him in pain.

"No." His voice was gentle. "I can't feel anything from you." He was hopeful.

"Where's Gediminas?" I noticed my brother was nowhere around.

"He is gone with the others for a few hours to bring you some medication." He said sheepishly. It was the first time he dared to come downstairs to see me alone. I smiled at him. For some reason I wanted to get closer to him.

"Are you thirsty? I can get you some water or tea." He wanted to help.

"Thanks. But the very thought about drinking is painful." I shook my head slightly.

"You do look better." He smiled. "It's only a matter of short time then you are back to normal." His eyes shone with hope.

I managed a weak chuckle. But I think it rather sounded and looked like a grin.

"What's so funny?" He frowned a little.

"Has anybody ever told you about what happens just before the very end?" I still had some strength to keep my smile on.

"People pass out and don't wake up." He didn't want to believe this could be the case here. It felt nice that somebody who knew almost nothing about me still cared.

"And just before that...?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I don't follow you." His frown became serious rather than playful.

"People get stronger and feel almost fine. They wake up, talk, and move around a little. They seem much better." I paused to let the words sink in. It took a lot longer than it should have, especially considering the fact that he was a vampire. Finally recognition downed in his eyes.

"No. Don't even think about this." He shook his head dismissing the thoughts. "It won't happen. It just can't." He was determined. "Not when you are with us. Not now when we are finally talking. It just..." He was out of words. I managed a little sad smile. "It just... can't." Like his words could change anything...

"I am glad I'm here." I glanced around. It was a beautiful place. I felt even better knowing I was not alone. I liked him being so close. "I just wish some things were different."

"We can change everything together." I was his niece in his eyes and I liked it. He hoped I wouldn't notice the word 'we'. But it fit with what I wanted. "As soon as you get better, we will spend a lot of time together." Alice wanted to be with my brother and I and I didn't think I minded that so much. Jasper was willing to do anything just to see us all happy. It felt nice.

"I think, I would love that." I forced a weak smile. His face lit up. "You know, you don't have to be by my side all the time."

"I have nothing better to do anyway." He shrugged nonchalantly, but it was obvious, he wasn't moving away from me till Gediminas got back.

"How is he? He doesn't give much of a headache, does he?" I raised my eyebrows. He knew who I was talking about.

"Don't worry." Jasper smiled. "Vampires don't get headaches." He shrugged playfully.

"That's not very encouraging." I murmured thinking about all the problems my brother could have caused here.

"He is nowhere near your father's annoyance level." He chuckled. I winced at the last word. "What?" He frowned for a short moment. "Oh, right."

"We are not there. Not yet at least." I turned my eyes away.

"Do you want it to happen?" He tilted his head curiously.

"I don't know." Of course, I wanted. But I was pass any attempts. "He is the adult. We are his children. It's up to him what he wants us to be." I closed my eyes lazily.

"Somebody will have to make the first move." He wanted to know my position.

"I'm not doing it." I was certain about at least this little.

"Don't worry; we will be there when it happens." He whispered. I opened my eyes only for a moment and sent a wave of gratitude to him. I liked him being there with me and caring about us. It was important for me. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

**Gediminas' POV**

It took a lot longer in the airport than I had expected. But eventually I had the two vials of drugs. I sped back to Forks and my sister's side while the rest of the family tried keeping up with me. Well, not all of them. Jasper had stayed with Adrian, not my favorite family member, but his enthusiasm to spend at least a little time with her was overwhelming for me. Alice and Rosalie went for a quick shopping trip to get her niece new clothes. And the rest was behind me.

Luckily their house was on the outskirts of town so I didn't have to slow down. Tires screeched under me when I stopped in front of the doors and sprinted inside.

Jasper was sitting beside the couch and watching my sister sleep. He turned to me. His eyes were shining with hope and certainty. Adrian had woken up and even talked to him.

"How is she?" I whispered. He just grinned back, happy that she was getting better and he had gotten a chance to have a few words with her.

My phone vibrated again. I took it out. It was Alexander, again. Couldn't he understand that I had no wish of talking to him?!

"Hey." Adrian finally woke up.

"Hey, little one." I smiled and knelt next to her. She frowned at the nick name. Mom used to call me that when I was little. "How do you feel?"

"Better than you, from the looks of it." I seemed pale and exhausted in her eyes and this was not the subject she wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, well, most people do." I forced a smiled that looked more like a grimace. "But really, how are you?" She sighed.

"Like being sick with rabies." She managed a weak chuckle. I scowled at her. She knew more than well how important it was for monitoring her health. "Weak, tired, thirsty, not interested in anything at all." Others were catching every word of hers; even Edward was standing a few steps away, watching us.

"I have these for you. They should help." I carefully took out the vials.

She raised her eyebrows skeptically. "Genius." She murmured.

"What? They will help you." I didn't understand her and her mind was still too messy for me.

"And you will get the needle for me where?" She pursed her lips.

I glanced at Carlisle who was half-way to the stairs for his studio. "Uhu." Her voice was slightly stronger. "He at least works with humans." She paused. "And since when do normal things apply for us?"

I winced. Hope was blind after all, or at least it managed to blind me.

"What's the problem now?" It was still difficult for Emmett when everyone was serious and his jokes went unnoticed or even received scolding for wrong place and time.

"Her skin is like ours. No needle will work." Edward grumbled at his brother. Finally he was in this with us.

Jasper darted to the kitchen. I looked into his thoughts to learn what he was doing, but he was thinking about my sister laughing, talking fashion with Alice, going shopping, all the ways he was going to spoil her and generally her being his little niece. I could hear some liquid being poured into a glass. He returned in a flash and offered me two glasses, one was empty and the other was half full with water.

"It can't make it worse." He looked hopeful. I took the second glass and poured one vial in it.

"Drink it." I turned for my sister.

"Why?" She frowned. I glared back. I was in no mood for games. I was not Alexander and it was about time she understood that. She smelled the air. "It's made of herbs. There's no use. It won't work anyway." She glanced away to Rosalie who smiled at her.

"Don't you dare." I hissed at my sister. "We have to try everything." Adrian turned her eyes back to me. She looked dispirited. "You are not giving up." I stated leaving no room for arguments.

"Why not?" She asked sheepishly. I could see she was tired and felt weak, but I had seen her in far worse conditions and she always survived.

My phone vibrated again. Unbelievable! He couldn't choose a worse time to send me a message. I fumed. On the other hand, I could use it for my advantage.

"Okay. You want to give up? That's your decision." She was astounded and the others were shocked. I smiled mischievously. "But." I stressed the word. "When Alexander calls the next time." I kept my voice loud and clear. "And he will do that in the next few minutes." I murmured to annoy her. "You will answer it. And explain to him why you are letting your life slip away without a fight." I paused for a dramatic effect. "And you will explain to him why we hadn't called him yet. Especially, since he has been trying to reach us every thirty minutes and even more often." I grinned at her. Victory was mine.

At first, the Cullens looked surprised at me. They had no idea who I was talking about. But then they turned their expectant eyes to my sister. She was surprised I managed to keep Alexander in silence about what was going on in here. Soon realization downed in her eyes.

"That's called cheating!" She hissed. I was barely able to suppress my laughter at her mien.

"And I am not standing between you and him when he barges in here." My grin widened. Rosalie wanted to growl at whatever boy made my sister upset, but at least she understood it was not the time for her over protectiveness.

"I thought he lived somewhere in Europe." Edward murmured surprised. My dearest aunt felt almost insulted because he knew something about us that she didn't.

"Distance is not a problem for him." Adrian whispered irritated. "If he learns I am sick, he will be here in an hour. Maybe even less." She grumbled. "And that's called blackmailing!" She glared at me. I chuckled and gave her the glass. She took it unwillingly and drank in one gulp.

I took the glass back and we all looked at her. Only now she understood how childish she had seemed. My little sister had the decency to blush.

"It's alright. I'm used to this." I tousled her hair. "And they wanted to get to know the real us anyway." I chuckled and glanced at the people around us.

"I think it's time for me to take a nap." She was ashamed of how terribly she had behaved. Edward and Jasper smiled at her. I think it was the first time I thought of all of them as my family and didn't mind the idea.

Adrian closed her eyes and snuggled into the pillow. Now all we could do was wait.

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	31. Almost a family

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Gediminas' POV**

It had been only days since we had given Adrian some drugs, but it felt like an eternity. She had been sleeping most of the time and pretending to sleep while watching the Cullens through her senses the rest of it. Today she had finally fully woken up.

I was sitting on the floor by her couch. Rosalie and Alice with help from Edward had bought her some new clothes and now all the girls were in the bathroom. Emmett was sitting in front of me, stealing a glance every once in awhile. Carlisle and Esme were on a loveseat and Edward was by the television.

Eventually the doors opened and my sister came out. She was beautiful as always; just a little pale and her eyes were tired. She perched on the couch behind me and wrapped herself in a blanket. I put my head on her feet.

"Thank you. I love them." She told Alice talking about her new garment. The aunt only waved it off. Surprisingly my sister managed to put her emotions and thoughts in order, because nobody noticed the way she truly felt. Years around her was the only reason I saw straight through her charade. The identical blouse she had at home carried tiny metal pieces given by mom. And wearing this one like this felt strange and almost uncomfortable. But Adrian decided to get the most with what she had.

"They do fit you nicely." Rosalie said taking a seat by her side. Jasper sat on her other side. Naturally for my sister, she leaned into her favorite aunt. Then she did something I had never expected, though I guess I should have. She sneaked her hand near her oldest uncle and took his. Jasper was so surprised that he wanted to pull it back, but luckily he didn't do it, it would have been terrible for my sister, fragile as she felt.

"You scared us a lot." Carlisle broke the silence.

"Yeah. Don't do that again." I playfully glared at Adrian and she slightly blushed.

"Sorry. I promise, no more carnivores." She chuckled lightly. Everybody smiled.

"We can always turn you into a vampire." Emmett tried joking. Rosalie glared at her lover disgusted.

_"Not in a billion years!" "Not in my lifetime!" "How could he even think about __that__?!" _I winced as the rest of his family shouted in their minds.

"Are you insane?!" Edward snarled. We were never becoming like them if he could help it.

"What?! They are already half vampires." Emmett jestingly exclaimed not truly realizing the change in emotions around him.

"I think I will manage this way." My sister tried calming everyone down. She gave Jasper a meaningful look. He had started to growl, but now sent a wave of calmness to the others. For the first time since we came here, everybody was relaxed. With a single exception.

A few minutes later Edward broke the silence with one of the most painful questions for him. "Why didn't you turn Bella when she got sick?"

He directed it to me. "You have a question to answer yourself and before you do that, I am not talking to you." I shot back. For now, he was not a part of my family, therefore I was not obliged to answer to him. 'Family'. I wondered when did I include the Cullens into that term. Not that I minded, but nevertheless... He lowered his head shamefully.

"Maybe I could help?" Carlisle glanced between his son and me. Edward raised his eyes hopefully.

"Answering without truly meaning it won't work on me." I stated. This was not a subject for games. He raised his eyebrows at me. "Remember?" I put a finger to my temple. He had forgotten I could read minds just as well as he did. "And after years of having Adrian for a sister it's not so difficult to discern the truth."

"She can't possibly be worse than Alice." He sighed and the aunt in question childishly stuck out her tongue at her brother.

"But she is better at hiding things without letting one know that something is wrong." I rolled my eyes at my sister who was decent enough to blush even more. We all laughed.

"But really, why didn't you turn Bella when she was sick?" Only Emmett could come back at such sore thing.

Adrian took a deep breath. I didn't expect her to answer. "We are only half vampires. There was no way to know exactly what would happen once we tried and we didn't want to cause mom even more pain." She said quietly. "Besides, vampires weren't our favorite subject of talking at the time."

The Cullens nodded understandingly. They were all glad to hear the words 'at the time'. Yes, things have definitely changed since then. And come to think of it that it was only a few months ago... I almost rolled my eyes at Edward. Only he could get stuck at the beginning of the sentence. He felt... sad...? disappointed...? Well, he was definitely not cheerful.

"You didn't get a proper hunt last time. I know it's late Sunday afternoon, but you could still make a short trip." Carlisle brought the subject up.

Sunday? I didn't notice we had spent so much time there. Charlie was sure to be worried by now.

"Sunday?" Adrian was dumbfounded. "We have to go home." Esme wanted to say that we were home, but she stopped just in time realizing my sister had meant Charlie. I looked apologetically and gratefully at her and she smiled back. When you cannot have it all, it's the thought that counts, right?

We stood up and went to the doors. There we turned back. "Thank you. For everything." I smiled at them.

"Any time. You're a part of our family." Carlisle spoke for all of them. 'Family'. It's a nice word and it felt even better to know we belonged to his definition.

Adrian and Rosalie fiercely hugged each other. They had become even closer. I wasn't so sure if I minded that anymore. She had been a great help when I needed her.

They let go of each other and my sister turned to Jasper. She took a deep breath and glanced at me for reassurance. I sheepishly looked at the ceilings. Our uncle peeked at me not knowing what my sister wanted to do. I almost laughed at those two. She turned back to him and took a hesitant step forward. If he didn't react, she was sure to kiss his cheek as a sign of gratitude. They were mere centimeters apart now and our uncle still had no idea what to do next. Of course, he was a little afraid that she will reject him, but her expectant posture was more than enough to assure anybody. I put my hand over my eyes and chuckled at the two of them. Finally Jasper put his arm around her shoulder and she hugged him back. They were both happy about this. And the rest of us laughed at them.

When Adrian took a small step back and stood in front of Carlisle it was another scene to watch. They spent almost eternity evaluating the situation and wondering what the other one would think that was too much at that moment. I dropped my head tiredly and raised it again. This day was going to end if my sister hadn't figured it out yet. And we had more than one thing left to do on our list. Finally they decided that shaking hands should do for this time. My sister still wasn't so sure about Carlisle and how to act around him and he didn't want to push her. Well, it was fine for me.

The others waved their goodbyes and we left. Alice wanted to hug us both, but decided against it for now, not wanting to scare us away. Edward was more difficult. Looks like his answer to my question was clear. He wanted to wish us good luck and give us a hug. He just didn't know how to do that. He felt our father and it was unfamiliar to him. Well, at that moment we didn't have eternity to wait for him to gather up the courage and make a move. I nodded to him showing that I understood and approved of his intentions. It would have to be enough for now.

I was glad to see Adrian's face lightening up at the sight of her motorcycle. She had missed it enormously.

We mounted our beauties and unwillingly left. I could hardly believe what I felt going up that path. It was sadness and emptiness, as if I was leaving a part of myself behind. I hadn't noticed that I had gotten so attached to them and that they had become so important to me. I shook my head trying to shake the feeling off. My sister, on the other hand, welcomed the new sensation in her heart.

It wasn't long before we reached our home. Charlie ran outside as soon as he saw our lights.

"Are you alright? Where have you been so long?" I had been right, he was frantic with worry. Apparently he had called us. The problem was that he only had Adrian's number which had been left behind still silenced from being previously taken to school.

"Don't worry. We are fine." That was far from truth because my sister was pale and her eyes were tired, but it escaped him. "There was no connection in the clearing. And I noticed that only this morning. There really was no point in coming back earlier." I shrugged it off. This was not his idea, but he decided to drop the subject rather than get in an argument with his grandchildren. Thankfully, he felt too old for that. Oh, how much I wished I had been out of connectivity range while being at the Cullens...

"I was getting ready to order some food for dinner." Charlie mumbled going back into the house.

"Don't worry. I will make something." I said going straight to the kitchen. Adrian raised her questioning eyebrows at me. "You have some writing to do." I snapped at her irritated. I was not letting her go for putting me through an entire week with her boyfriend's annoying calls.

"I thought you had no homework." Charlie turned to us.

"We have none." I nodded dismissing the question. "She has to write a letter." I playfully glared at my sister. "And better make it long." I murmured for her. She went upstairs and glanced at her mobile phone. Its memory was too cramped to contain all messages and call log showed 999 missed calls from Alexander. Maybe he did honestly care about my sister...

In any way we were bound to have a lot happening next week.

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	32. Not the way it was supposed to

**Another chapter**...

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**Gediminas' POV**

Monday. I usually hated this part of week, but this time it was going to be different. We were no longer alone at school and my sister had some business to take care of, even if she didn't know it yet.

When I got up, Charlie was gone to work and Adrian was eating her human breakfast. I went to shower and got out in record time. For once I had time to ponder on my outfit. Today I was going to be noticed more than always, because I knew my sister would need me in the cafeteria during lunch. I took my Calvin Klein black pants with striped pattern, simple white Pierre Cardin shirt and also black Armani jacket. My sneakers were lying under my bed and the bag was downstairs for over a week since we came home from school last time.

I went outside to find my sister putting on her helmet. It was our first day at school after short holidays and looks like she wanted to leave the male population breathless. She was wearing her tight white leather jacket, but I could easily see that she had her vermillion cardigan on that left way too much of her chest open. She was also wearing black slim fit trousers with the same color sneakers. I raised my eyebrows skeptically at her. All she did was shrug and murmur something like "I had no time for laundry yesterday." Well, at least she was self-conscious…

When we arrived in the parking lot everybody looked at us. Adrian tuned them out, but it wasn't so easy for me. What I did hear made me almost growl in furry. I always knew that S-whatever guy was more trouble than worth it. Apparently he had been caught making out with some Julia girl last week and now other students were eager to see a catfight. Well, I was not pushing my sister into it. She had to take care of this herself. Anyway, she always knew where to find me.

I left for my first class, History. As usual I had an entourage of most of the female school population. To say that the lesson was boring and dragging would be an understatement. They were still discussing last weeks test. In the middle of the hour I noticed that Jasper was uncomfortable trying to think of a way to say something.

"_Do you think you would like to sit with us during lunch?" _He was careful and polite even in his thoughts. Though he didn't have to shout so loudly. I wasn't deaf after all.

I knew my answer, but he was sitting in front of me… I took an empty page, wrote "Yes, but I also have some other things to do before that. I'll see what I can do." and made an airplane. The teacher was looking at the blackboard, but the moment I sent out the plane, he turned for the class. The plane graciously landed on Jasper's desk, but the best view to watch was the old man's facial expression.

"Mr. Swan! What are you doing here?" His eyes went wide. The tiny thing was that he wasn't sure if I was the one that let the plane fly. Ryan sitting behind me was also fidgeting.

"Listening to your monologue about the difference between terms 'economy' and 'economics'. I kept my face straight. Though inside I was laughing. Even Jasper was satisfied with my written answer. Looks like Rosalie had to do the same with my sister.

The teacher nodded and kept babbling till the bell. I left the class before most of the students moved out of their places. I had no wish of lingering with them. I would get enough of that during lunch. However, when it came to my drawing class there was a note that the classes were canceled for the day because the teacher was sick. I had no intentions on wasting time and made my way to the Physics class. But I wasn't any luckier there. The class had also been canceled. Now I had two free periods. I made my way outside and found a quiet place to sit. It was drizzling and the water on my face calmed me down.

After I heard a bell ringing and all people went inside I felt Adrian approaching. I opened my eyes and turned to her. Angie had just told her about what had happened between Scot and Julia last week.

"Hey." She started slowly.

"Hey." My voice was expectant.

She sighed. "It hurts." She was thinking about Scot and I almost hissed.

"You have a freedom of choice." I shrugged pretending to be nonchalant.

Her thoughts glided to Alexander. "We are like in your song. Miles apart." She was hurt. I didn't like that but it was her life. I had to stay out of it if I could help it.

"Are your hearts miles apart?" There was no harm if I gave her an idea or two. And we were leaving this place as soon as we finished high school. She cocked her eyebrow. It was too fast for her to follow. "How often do you think about him?" I smiled inwardly.

"Too often…" She muttered embarrassed. It wasn't a secret I did not approve of Alexander, but so many things have changed recently…

"You don't have to move on, but if that's what you want…" I trailed off. It was her job to put it together in her mind whether I meant Scot or Alexander. Whichever she chose, it would be her decision. I got up and walked back into school.

Math was full of new discoveries for me. And I am not talking about some new theory or ridiculous mistakes my classmates had managed to make when they were given an almost exactly the same test as before. No. What I learnt was that I preferred translating German texts to Italian ones. And the best of them were Russian. The teacher couldn't make a word of what I was reading when she saw Cyrillic and naively assumed I was reading something about Math. I had had my share of those readings years ago.

English literature couldn't drag slower with our teacher making comments about our previous interpretations. To make it worse, she decided to give mine as an example. I couldn't keep myself from rolling my eyes when all girls in class sighed dreamily while hearing my work. Jasper bit his lip to stop himself from laughing at my expression. I was too eager for lunch to do anything but stay silent and pretend being flattered.

I met Adrian outside the cafeteria. The Cullens were already inside. We walked in and got our food. She was determined to solve the situation with Scot, she just didn't want to do that now. Well, there was no point in postponing it. She turned for our family's table, but I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Not yet." I smiled mischievously. "You have things to take care of." I turned her to Angie and slightly pushed her forward. She sighed, but obeyed. I was her older brother and only wanted the best for her. And she knew that.

In the meantime I walked to my family and sat down between Jasper and Edward. They were both glad to see me join them. Everybody smiled at me.

"Hey." I smiled back.

"Hi." Alice's face lit up. And I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at her enthusiasm.

I took a bite out of my pizza. And glanced at my sister who was eating her lunch and chatting with Angie about previous week. I noticed that they were talking about everything but Scot and Julia incident. She was going to have to face it sooner or later…

"I know she doesn't have to sit with us, but…" Rosalie pulled me back from my silent reverie. "Is there something wrong?" She carefully asked.

"No." I paused. "Everything is absolutely fine." I took another bite. "She just has to do something before she can join us." I knew they would like the word 'us'. My aunt nodded.

"Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing you in the cafeteria before." Jasper curiously tilted his head.

"That's because it is the first time I'm in here. And a good chance the last one." I finished my pizza. They were still waiting for me to elaborate. "With all these thoughts around I am not coming here again." I paused. "Besides, what's the point?" I shrugged.

"We have to live among humans so as not to forget our human nature." Edward explained.

"I am half human anyway." I murmured.

"You might want to stay more human than vampire." He pointed out. I didn't like his patronizing tone. It was so different from mom explaining things, even if we wanted sometimes for her simply to tell us what to do. But it was a beginning and we could always work on his techniques later. I rolled my eyes and everyone except for him chuckled at me. I smiled and sipped my tea.

There was something bugging Emmett that he wanted to ask me. But strangely for him, he wasn't sure how to put it.

"Just spill it out." I sighed at him.

"Remember when you told us about that accident with your friends, that car crash…?" He started but didn't get to finish. Rosalie smacked the back of his head. She didn't want to scare me off or ruin the mood.

"What about it?" I encouraged him. I would be too busy to talk to them when the show started. Rosalie rolled her eyes, but said nothing. Of course we, guys, wanted to talk car crashes.

"The 'bikes riding behind you' part?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yes. What about it?" Even mind reading wasn't helpful here. "Physchokinesis." I shrugged.

"Oh, yeah. Right. How could I forget that." He rolled his eyes. The term wasn't very informative either.

"It's an ability to move things with one's mind without actually touching them or even having to see them." I explained.

"Such things exist only in movies." Jasper contradicted. Apparently they were much more human than I was. And anything so strange was difficult for them to understand.

"Yeah. Just like vampires." I smiled instead of rolling my eyes again. Weren't they in all this supernatural for much longer than us? At least he got the point.

Edward growled silently and I looked around to see what irritated him so much. I noticed that Adrian had finished her meal and was leaving the table with the tray in her hand and Scot had just gotten his lunch and was walking towards her. The rest of my family saw the same and threateningly hissed at my side. They wanted to kill the kid. I chose to ignore them and pulled my chair a little away from the table and turned it so that it was facing the cafeteria. I took a seat and smiled.

"What are you doing?" Edward almost glared at me still annoyed at the boy.

"Getting comfortable to watch the show." I grinned. "Trust me, it's gonna be worth it." Rosalie wanted to go to my sister. "Stay. And let her do this herself."

"She might need help and that jerk definitely needs a lesson." She hissed.

"I promise, she will not be all hugs and smiles." My lips stretched even further. "Though she might be smiling in the end." I chuckled and they looked curiously at me. I nodded towards my sister and Scot, who was right in front of her blocking her way out. They all turned to watch what was going to happen.

"Honey." Scot smiled at my sister expectantly.

"I am not in a jar." She shot back and I smiled. She had learnt that phrase all too well.

"What's wrong?" He looked surprised. Edward chuckled at what was about to happen.

"Why don't you go to Julia? I am sure she is waiting for you." My sister frowned irritated.

"She can wait all she wants…" The guy was childish enough to hope he could get away with what he had done. But after Adrian sighed, he understood he was busted. "Did you honestly expect me to wait for you for more than a week? I can have any girl I want. You should feel lucky I even noticed you, let alone talked to you." He truly meant that. I sadly smiled. Apparently this wasn't something unfamiliar for him and he was always forgiven and awarded with numerous kisses from other girls. Well, my sister was forgiving, but this was a huge mistake of his. Alexander had been waiting for her for months and his determination only got stronger. I shook my head at the boy.

"You know, Scotty." Adrian used his pet name that the others said with utmost love and admiration. However, her voice was laced with poison. I smiled. This was my little sister. "I wasn't completely truthful to you too. I do have a really close friend." A boyfriend would have sounded better, but their relationship wasn't there yet, at least officially.

"Yeah, apart from that wreck." He nodded towards Angie. "You wish you had." He teased. My sister gritted her teeth. It wasn't a time or a place for her to snap. Jasper leaned aback from her anger. I have no idea what she would have done, but luckily her mobile phone rang.

"Sorry, I have to answer." She murmured automatically and took out the gadget. "Yes?" For once in my lifetime I didn't mind Alexander's call. "I missed you too." My sister smiled happily and Scot frowned. "Just bringing some truth on a guy that I already have a very close friend." The big A was truly her savior. "Alright." She sighed amused. "If you want to, I can say the word." She finally understood that she needed nobody else but him at her side and the word was meant only for him to be called so. "But which one is better? A boyfriend or a part of my soul?" She chuckled lightly and the guy in front of her looked shocked. Nobody had ever cheated on him before. "I thought so." She paused with a huge honest smile. "No, I am still at school. I'll talk to you later." She was happy and I felt glad for her. "Yes, you can come, but not sooner than we agreed." These last few months had been trying for both of them. "Alright. I miss you too." I glanced around. Everybody was shocked with their mouths open. And I am not talking only about my family, but all the other students as well. This was definitely something to watch. "Don't start. I have a bell in six minutes." She laughed and hung up. "Sorry, time's up. I have to go." Her anger for Scot was gone. It's wasn't that she forgave him. Far from that. She simply understood what she wanted and that she already had that. Or should I say him. Scot stood dumbstruck. Nobody had ever treated him like this. To make it worse, my sister didn't kiss him for goodbye and not even said he was forgiven. Finally even this guy figured out how different my sister was from the other girls and that winning her heart was not a mere prize, but a long and tiring war.

**Adrian's POV**

I put my phone away and walked out of the cafeteria. On my way out I saw Rosalie. She wasn't glaring or disappointed. On the contrary, she looked proud of the way I just acted. My lips refused to stop smiling and I truly felt happy to have Alexander.

My next lesson was English literature with Edward. He smiled at me when he sat down. He was proud of me. Only then I understood that entire cafeteria had heard my conversation not only with Scot but with Alexander as well. My cheeks turned crimson and I slid down in my chair. This was so embarrassing. Luckily he decided not to push it and left me be for the class.

P.E. was the worst lesson I had ever had. And I didn't even have to do it. All students kept glancing at me throughout entire class. The moment the bell rang, I dashed through the doors. Gediminas chuckled at me, but I wasn't in a mood for his teasing.

I went to my beauty. There was a strong rain lifting all dust off the ground. My brother was by my side. Most of the students were either still in their classes or in changing rooms. All except for the Cullens and one girl who was walking to her new car playing with her car keys in her hand. What happened next was like a blur.

The girl sliced her palm and blood oozed from the cut.

"Make him clumsy!" My brother hissed, but I had no idea who he was talking about. He ran to the girl. And I watched in horror how Jasper crouched for attack.

I closed my eyes and made him trip. His siblings were too shocked to move. And they all had to fight the urge to attack the girl by themselves.

Gediminas approached the girl and put on his best smile. I could still smell her blood and so could Jasper. Emmett tried to grab him, but he was too slippy. With my heart aching I made my favorite uncle trip again. All I could tell myself was that this was for his own sake.

"Hello." My brother said charmingly. "Oh. Let me help you." He put his handkerchief on the cut and held her hand. Blood's scent was still lingering in the air. The girl was dazzled by his eyes and smile. "A nurse should take a look at this." Gediminas turned her for the office building.

"Oh. Don't worry. It's not that serious." She waved her other hand dismissively.

"I still think she should take a look at this." He insisted. "I will come with you." I knew he felt sick of his words. She was anything but his type, but if this was what she needed, he will do it. She smiled at him and finally complied. They left the parking lot and I looked at my family.

Jasper was livid, far beyond reasoning or even thinking. Emmett was holding him and Edward was helping. They took him to the forest and disappeared behind the tree line. Alice followed them. Rosalie looked at me. Her eyes were apologetic, grateful and sad. I nodded and she got inside the silver Volvo. She threw the car in reverse and flew out of the parking lot.

I sighed and put on my helmet. Eventually my brother and the girl came out. He was glad to see our family gone, but politely escorted the gal to her car.

"I will see you later?" She tried dazzling him with her eyelashes, but miserably failed. I rolled my eyes at her efforts. My brother did not date. Couldn't the students in this school get it?

"Of course." He gave her a friendly smile. "I am here every day." He let her down easily. Too bad she didn't get the point. Well, she will. Sooner or later… My brother slowly turned away, came to my side and rolled his eyes. I chuckled.

Looks like I was not the only one having a terrible day. I still had to finish completely with Scot, my brother had a girl seriously crushing on him and to make things even worse, we lost at least two members of our family, because there was no doubt that when Jasper left, Alice would go with him.

I couldn't shake off the déjà vu feeling. Last time something like this happened, my aunt and uncle were not the only ones to leave. My father and the rest of his family were gone as well. I wasn't sure I could survive this at least the way my mom did…

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******Let me know what you think about it and if you liked it or not.**


	33. Lost

**Hello once more. I know I haven't updated in ages and I am truly sorry about that.**

**As always, thank you all for your reviews. It's important for me.  
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**The biggest THANK YOU to Jennifer L. Cullen for all her help with this story.**

**We are back to the story from Adrian's POV.  
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Adrian's POV**

When I woke up, it was dark outside. Gediminas with grandpa were asleep. I looked out the window. It was too dark even for an upcoming winter. I took a shower and put on clothes to show how I felt. They were not black because there was still hope, but I knew better than to fool myself. Midnight blue was the color of my mood thus all my attire was in it.

I quietly went outside. Silence welcomed me and I managed a sad smile. I took a deep breath. Snow was at my feet. For the first time I felt comfortable in such cold. It seemed like even nature was anxious, but also wary. I wanted to know the final outcome of yesterday, but I couldn't suppress my fear. It was all too easy and likely that I was going to lose my family. I knew we were not that close yet. But after losing mom, I felt reluctant to let anybody else go. I was too afraid they would not come back this time.

Sun was setting. A symbol of hope. I just wished it didn't mean a new beginning without my family around... It would have been too painful.

"Morning. Let's go." Gediminas brought me out of my reverie. I mounted my beauty and left.

It wasn't a surprise that parking lot was almost empty. Ice on roads was going to be an issue for my schoolmates. But they were not the ones I wanted to see. And the one I had somehow already missed was definitely not coming today. I sighed and went to my first class.

Math. Once my favorite subject, now dragged like you wouldn't believe. It wasn't long before I started chatting with Angie. Her sister Maria had started dating some boy and was making the worst mistakes. My mood only fell, was it really so difficult for the other girls to understand guys?

We got so involved in our conversation that we didn't even notice the silence in the class until our teacher called Angie to give her an answer and my friend started blushing. I got my own idea of making fun and passed my notebook to her to read it. Since I had nothing in front of me the teacher asked me to explain the answer. Oh no. I was not going to give her the pleasure she was expecting. It wasn't difficult to remember everything.

"Well it is obvious." I widened my eyes in a faked innocence with a tiny smile playing around my lips. "According to…" and then I gave her two theorems that I was sure they had not learned yet and were not going to because naturally those were from a material taught in universities or in the best way for some specific advanced mathematical classes in Europe. Her eyes widened in surprise and other students could hardly understand a word I had said. Of course, I kept my face straight.

Eventually she huffed and turned to the class. I tried talking to Angie again, but she didn't want to get caught once more so I was left to doodle on my notebook alone.

I was too anxious for lunch to calmly sit through my lessons. Physics being the next on my list. We were given to read entire chapter for homework and allowed to start in class. Great! Another pointless waste of time and my poor nerves. To make it even worse, Scot showed up after the class was finished.

"Drawing next?" He tried dazzling me with his smile. Unfortunately for him, Alexander was the only one who had ever managed to do that.

"Yeah." I said nonchalantly. He tried hugging me. Couldn't he get the point? I pushed his hand away and turned to glare at him. "What's your problem? You didn't hear a word last time or are you simply incapable of thinking?" I knew I was rather harsh with him, but I didn't need him as another problem. I had more than enough of those.

"Calm down." He smiled at me and I fumed inside. "I thought you were joking yesterday."

"A call from my boyfriend was a joke?" I cocked my eyebrow.

"What boyfriend? You don't have one." He chuckled. Apparently this guy wasn't capable of understanding that a girl could be interested in anyone else but him. "Stop playing hard to get." This guy was unbelievable!

"Can't you get it that I have no interest in you?!" I hissed in exasperation.

"That's impossible, baby." He laughed. Oh, no! He was not going to call me that! I was not one of his many whores!

"Idiot! Get lost!" I snapped and stormed off into my classroom. I had never called anyone like that, but let's face it. The guy more than deserved it!

Usually drawing would calm me down, but today I couldn't concentrate on anything. My thoughts were flying between Jasper, my beloved uncle, and Alexander whom I had missed enormously. Rosalie ran into class a little late and sat down at once. She briefly glanced at me to see how I was doing and I reluctantly nodded back. If they were about to leave, I had no wish of getting close to them. On the other hand, becoming close with them was exactly what I craved the most. Urgh!

History was another waste of time, but when the lunch came, I suddenly felt hesitant. I wanted to be with my family and I had no wish of them leaving, but I knew they would if Jasper needed them. And right now he needed them more than ever.

I entered the cafeteria and got my food somehow unwilling to take another step.

"Adrian!" Rosalie called me. I looked at her and saw Emmett, Edward and Gediminas at their table. What did I expect? Jasper and Alice sitting there like nothing had happened? Could I really be so naive?

I nodded to my aunt and... walked to Angie who was sitting by the furthest table. I could feel Rosalie's shock and Gediminas' irritation, but I was simply not ready. For what? I had no idea. I guess, I just needed some normal teenage life.

"Hey, how are you?" My friend was glad to see me and so was I.

"Hey. I'm fine." I shrugged with a smile. She had no need to know about Jasper and Alice.

"Sure? You two caused quite a scene yesterday?" She glanced at me sceptically.

"Sorry. He just got on my nerves." I took a bite of my pizza.

"Mind if I sit here?" A sickeningly sweet and annoying voice whispered in my ear. The guy had no idea when to stop.

"Go ahead." I managed not to roll my eyes. It's not like the table belonged to me...

"Um... mmm... Well..." Angie was dying to give me a question, but Scot at my side was stopping her.

"Oh, just say it." I sighed after a few more minutes of her stammering.

"Who is Alexander?" She paused. "You have never mentioned him before."

"I didn't?" I glanced at her sheepishly. All the time I had spent in Forks I tried not to talk about my real friends, because I could have easily slipped and mentioned something not so human about them. I never realized I hadn't mentioned the most important of them.

Angie shook her head. Her eyes were curious.

"I knew it!" The guy sitting by me boomed. "I just knew that you were pretending to have somebody." I felt an urgent need to wipe that smug look off his face.

"Alexander is..." I paused. How to put it in right words? "The most amazing person I have ever met." I smiled. Yeah, this should do it.

"Care to elaborate?" My friend wanted to know more.

"He is caring, gentle, kind and always polite." My eyes glided through the windows. It was snowing. "He is always by my side whenever I need him."

"Somebody is in love." She chuckled lightly. My eyebrows shot up. Nobody had ever said that so... bluntly. "Your eyes turned dreamy." She laughed playfully and I blushed. "Tell me how he looks."

"He is handsome." I shrugged with the biggest smile on my face. "He is tall and strong, but rather slim. He has dark hair, beautiful brown eyes. His hands are always warm." For some reason the last sentence made Angie giggle. I frowned at her for a moment. There was nothing funny here.

"Have I ever met him?" She was burning with curiosity.

"Definitely no. He is not from Forks." I shook my head.

"Port Angeles?" She sounded surprised. "Isn't distance a problem?"

Distance? We lived half around the world apart and he still knew more about me than anybody else. Distance was definitely not an issue here. Though I missed him enormously. "No. There is e-mail and phone calls. Even Skype sometimes. He is coming here on his Christmas holiday and I will spend all summer with his family."

"A long distance boyfriend? Please!" Scot still couldn't believe that I had found someone better than him. "That's ridiculous!"

"I have spent half my life overseas. Where do you think I should have looked for a guy? In a boondocks like Forks?!" My patience with him was over. As usual, I understood my words only after saying them. Angie dropped her eyes to the table, embarrassed. Just great. My foul mood was flowing freely. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut for the rest of the day...?

I took my tray and dumped it in the trash bin. The guy was once again left gaping for air. I stormed out of the cafeteria ignoring my brother's angry glare.

I wasn't able to calm myself before English literature. I wanted my favorite uncle more than ever before to help me. Even calling Alexander was not an option since it was night in his place.

I heard a chair being moved by my side. I glanced in its direction and saw Edward. A painful sigh escaped my lips before I could stop it. Luckily he decided not to torment me further and was silent throughout the entire lesson. I was really grateful for that.

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	34. Can it get any worse?

**Hello again.**

**As always, thank you all for your reviews. It's important for me.  
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**The biggest THANK YOU to Jennifer L. Cullen for all her help with this story.**

**Enjoy!**

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Adrian's POV**

It'd been almost two weeks since my favorite uncle Jasper left.

For two weeks I had been going to school not knowing if I would see my family again.

For the same two weeks I had been avoiding everybody in all possible ways.

"Morning sunshine." Gediminas boomed near my ears. I glared at him, but he just smirked back. For the last fortnight I couldn't help but be irritated at everybody and everything. "Just wanted to make sure you remember that Charlie and I are going to a conference. We will leave as soon as I get back from school today. We should be back for Sunday lunch, which is the day after tomorrow in case you forgot. So you will have to stay alive and preferably well for almost two days. Think you can do this?" His sarcasm was becoming really annoying.

I mounted my beauty and left for school.

I made sure to arrive before anybody else. Meeting people and even seeing them was not what I wanted. I parked my beauty and went to sit on a bench by the tree line. It was raining so nobody came anywhere near me.

It was only one week left before Christmas holiday and right after that we were having a marathon of tests again, so Angie was studying as hard as she could. For once I decided not to get in her way and let her work. It gave me more than enough time to ponder on my clothes drafts and lyrics. Not that any of them were worth attention, but it was a way to distract myself.

Alexander had been calling me everyday for the last two weeks, sometimes even several times a day. But they were having tests before winter break so conversations weren't very long. He did try writing as thorough letters as he could keeping me up to date with whatever he and all my friends that he knew in Europe were doing. I was really glad I had him.

But to be happy, I needed my whole family to be with me. And there was still not a single word from Jasper or Alice. Gediminas had mentioned that they had called Rosalie and said they were in Alaska, but it was not going to be the same till they came back.

I spent all breaks and lunch outside enjoying the rain and snow. If anything happened, Gediminas knew where to find me.

English literature wasn't bad. Or at least it could have been worse. We were given a task to come up with a short poem or song lyrics for Christmas. My mood was hardly helpful, but Edward's enthusiasm and anticipation about something was contagious. I wanted to be as happy as he was...

By the end of the class I hadn't come up with anything worth notice. This was going to be a long weekend trying to cheer myself up enough to write something. Or maybe Alexander would be willing to help? He was after all studying in a music school.

"Any plans for holidays?" Edward turned to me the moment the bell rang. A second later I would have been gone, but now I had to answer.

"My friend is coming to visit. I hope he will stay for a few days." I tried to sound cheerful, not that I could fool him. Still...

"Any chance you will be free for Christmas?" He was hopeful.

"I don't know. Maybe. He will probably want to spend the celebration with his parents..." I murmured. Where was he going?

"Then you and Gediminas are welcome to spend Christmas with us." He smiled from ear to ear.

"I have other family. Remember? I can't just leave Grandpa and I surely cannot bring him to you." I snapped. Had he forgotten that I had obligations to my human life as well?

I grabbed my bag and ran to the doors. P.E. had been canceled so I went straight to my beauty.

I put my bag in the saddlebag and took a deep breath. I didn't want to crash and damage it. Only then I realized what I had done. How could I snap at the person with whom I wanted to get closer the most? I yelled at him when he was being nice and friendly. Just great...

I noticed Gediminas coming out of one of the buildings. His eyes glided to Edward and he stopped dead in his feet. For a few moments there was nothing around us. Just he, Edward and me. My brother glared at me and hurried off to speak to the guy.

I slowly started putting on the helmet so that I could watch both of them.

"Edward. We need to talk." Gediminas approached the silver Volvo. The man gave him a sceptical look and turned to the car. All I could hope was that they will not decide to have a quiet conversation in their thoughts. "You can't leave." My brother's voice was a little desperate. Luckily he only lowered it, but said it out loud. Edward stayed quiet. "Last time you did, you destroyed not only your life, but mom's and ours as well. She never recovered or moved on. Neither will we. She was a wreck for months, years. Almost till the very end. And even then she couldn't help but think and dream about you." He was ready to say something more, but was cut off.

"I wouldn't be able to leave even if I wanted." Edward sounded nonchalant. Or was it disappointment? "My family would not let me."

Family. That only word cut like a knife. Not even the word, but the meaning. There was no place for us in it. We were completely excluded. I couldn't hate my ability to feel thoughts more than at that moment.

Gediminas almost took a step back. I didn't need to fully see his face to say that he was astonished, shocked... All synonyms of surprise. Pain was visible in his eyes. Unfortunately only for me, but not for Edward.

"You want to leave?" My brother was slightly perplexed. I had no idea why, but after all his ability was a lot worse than mine. "Yeah..." He was hurt. That much I could tell. Gediminas turned around and started walking to his motorcycle. Only now Edward truly understood the meaning of his own words and thoughts...

Looks like it would have been a lot better for all of us to stay silent today.

My brother stormed to me. "What happened? Were you even thinking when you spoke?" He sounded angry and surprised.

"Sure this is a place for this kind of conversation?" I raised my eyebrows. Parking lot was full of students.

"The hell with place!" He was fuming. I had never heard my brother swearing before! "What happened?" He demanded. "You just snapped at him." He motioned towards Edward. "I thought you..." Luckily he was smart enough to lower his tone. "... wanted to get closer to him."

"Of course I do!" I shot back a lot harsher than I had intended. Though I was in no mood for his shouting.

"You know, this is not exactly a way to get what you want." He was still angry, but there was a sense of caring in his voice and eyes.

"Okay." I nodded. I could play this game for a moment. "Let's say I do make some effort." I paused. There was no need for me to be able to read his mind to know how much he liked the idea. "And the moment I finally look at him as a daughter to a father, he will turn me down again? It wouldn't be the first time, you know?" The charade was over.

"What do you want him to do? This is new to all of us. And by saying us, I mean all three of us." He stressed the numeral. "At least you and I have each other..." He trailed off leaving out the obvious comment.

"It's not my fault mom is not with us!" Tears threatened to spill out of my eyes. "And if I remember correctly, he was the one to leave then!"

"Quit this attitude, Adrian, if you want to achieve anything." He sighed. "I wish Alexander was here. He would talk some sense into you." He shook his head, mounted his motorcycle and left.

'Think twice and say nothing' was my soul mate's favorite phrase. Unfortunately I wasn't strong enough for it. I just wanted my family back. Was it so much to ask?

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	35. Back and away

**Hello.**

**As always, thank you all for your reviews. It's important for me.  
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**The biggest THANK YOU to Jennifer L. Cullen for all her help with this story.**

**Enjoy!**

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When I woke up, it was almost midday. Though strangely it wasn't so bright in my room. I glanced through the window. Sure enough the sky was heavily clouded, rain was pouring and it seemed the sun was not going to rise today.

At least I was alone with no one to watch me. I made myself a breakfast, took a shower and tidied my room. I had never seen my brother putting his things in place, but they were all neatly arranged in his drawers and on the windowsill.

When I started doing laundry, Alexander called. I knew it was already night in his place, but he refused to go away without a long and hearty conversation. I could only smile at him. Of course, asking for his help with my homework was a lost cause, but we had a lot fun doing exercises. By the time we finished, he was dead on his feet. I wished him goodnight and hung up. Suddenly it was very quiet in the room.

Rain stopped in early evening. Thus I decided to take a ride. I hadn't done that almost for ages. My helmet was left in the saddlebag.

Forks looked like a blur. I sped along the road unwilling to meet anyone. Soon enough I left the town. The cold wind felt so nice in my face and hair. I smiled and closed my eyes for a moment. I was all alone with my thoughts. On the other hand, let's stay with my senses.

Speaking of which, I saw a black jeep in my rearview mirror. It was going way too fast for a normal human. Emmett? No, music blaring from this radio was too low for him. The car was getting closer and I decided to slow down and let it pass.

We drove side by side for a few minutes. I glanced inside and saw two young unfamiliar males. I didn't have to be in the car to smell vast amounts of alcohol. They were reeking from it. I slowed down even more.

They passed me and I sighed. A moment later they were out of my sight. I waited for a little while to speed up.

I had just passed regained my previous pace when another dark huge vehicle appeared behind me. Couldn't I get a moment of peace here?

I slowed down for what seemed to be a hundredth time today. The car came at my side, but this time did not speed away.

The sun had set long ago and the road was pitch-black. I could hardly see in front of me.

One more car came up behind me. Was there a some kind of a freaks' conference in midnight Port Angeles?! I tried to slow down even more, but the last monster was right behind my back wheel. To make it worse, the one at my side wasn't moving either.

We drove like this for a few hundred meters. Forest and a rather steep slope on my right, one jeep on my left and another one behind me.

They started closing in on me and I was about to increase my pace, when I noticed a turn in front of me. This was my chance.

After I barely passed the turn I almost hit the first jeep with my nose. I turned my head and sure enough the second monster was already by my side and the third one was behind me. This wasn't funny at all.

Had I left for a nice and peaceful ride? I would be very lucky to get out of this in one piece. Where was Gediminas when I needed him?

The cars started getting closer. By now I was balancing on the very side of the road, the top of a slope to be more exact. My side nightmare turned its wheel on me and I almost slipped. I managed to keep control of my beauty, but it was a close call.

This was really not funny! I was half a vampire so I wouldn't get myself killed if I hit the ground. But I would certainly break a few bones at best. Why had I left my helmet in my saddlebag? I was more than likely to crack my skull now! To make it worse, Gediminas could call me tonight and me lying unconscious somewhere between Forks and Port Angeles was surely going to set him off. It's not like I would be able to do anything but breath, if I got lucky while falling that is.

The car behind me almost touched my wheel and I had to grab my handles harder so as not to lose control. At least this was going to end soon, because right now I had no more space left to maneuver.

As if an answer to my prayers a black Mercedes showed up far behind us. I just hoped it wasn't one of them, because it was driving even faster than us. Moments later the new car bumped into the one at my side which turned left. I took my turn and sped away through a small gap. It wasn't long before I put quite a distance between myself and my pursuers.

I noticed a clearing with a wide roadside by the road way and pulled aside. Minutes later I saw the three huge jeeps being chased away by a black Mercedes, red BMW and silver Volvo. The three new and familiar cars pulled in the clearing.

Had I been frustrated? Yes.

Had I been irritated? Definitely Yes.

Had I been scared? Like you wouldn't believe.

But now? Now I felt relieved and relaxed seeing the people in front of me. My family, how much I liked those words, helped me and I was safe.

My eyes glided to the silver Volvo. I still don't understand why I had hoped to see him. But though the happy balloon in my heart collapsed, I was also glad to see my favorite uncle behind the wheel. I liked him being back.

I looked over Jasper sitting in the silver Volvo, Rosalie in her red BMW and Carlisle's concerned face in the black Mercedes. I was grateful for their help.

On the other hand, I had no idea what to do next. I was too overwhelmed to simply go chat with them, but to go home without saying a word wasn't an appealing option either.

My favorite uncle was tense when he nodded to me. He wanted to know if I was unharmed. I nodded back and he visibly relaxed. I still had no way to go home. He gave a reassuring smile and I smiled back. Eventually he tilted his head towards the road for me to go and I revved the engine.

I was happy all the way home. My family was back. And although we were not really together, this had to be only a matter of time.

Or did it?

I dismounted my beauty and went into the house. It was quiet and empty. I went to my room and turned on the music. I barely managed to change into my pyjamas when my phone started buzzing. I looked at the id.

"Hey, Madeline. It's nice to hear from you." I put on the best mood I could muster. She never called unless there was an emergency or a serious pending trouble.

"Hey. You have a problem." She wasn't happy, that much was obvious. My friend had an ability to see one's future. Similar to Alice, but this time I had never heard of anybody making a decision and changing her visions. 'Trouble' from her lips was a nightmare for all of us who knew her. We knew there was no way to avoid it, only to prepare and deal with it. We were always grateful for her help as it had saved our lives numerous times.

"If you are talking about the wonderful ride, I just got back from it and thanks for your concern, but it ended rather well." I still tried smiling.

"I know." She stated as if it was the most obvious thing. Well, I guess for her it was. "It's not why I am calling you."

I took a deep breath. This could mean nothing good. "Something is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong right now, but it will be in almost two weeks. Actually, two mornings before Christmas to be precise." I could never stop being amazed by her precision.

"What will it be?" I tensed up. Smiles and cheerful mood all forgotten.

"The Italians. They are coming to Forks for your family." Her tone was calm and serious. She was sure about what she was saying.

"My family?" There was no way I was letting them near Charlie. And there were a lot of other nice people in here.

"Stop freaking out. There is no time for that." Her voice was monotonous like she had said that many times before. Well, I suppose she had... "Take your phone book and start dialing. Call all your friends and say that I told them to come."

"All of them?" I had traveled almost all over Europe and the United States. I had even been to South America and Asia. And wherever I went, I always made friends.

"Yes. Hurry up. If you start calling now, you will be finished in time for your grandfather and brother coming home. Not all of them will answer so you will have to break a few speeding limits, but should get to the airport just before the end of registration for your flight." As always, she knew everything.

"Are you coming?" For some reason I was nervous and wanted her with us.

"I will catch a ride and should make it just before you all leave to meet _them_." How could she be so calm and nonchalant while talking about something like this?!

"One more thing..." I hesitated. "How many of _them _are coming?"

"Not as many as the last time and they are only vampires, but there will be a few well controlled newborns. Those can cause some inconveniences." There was no hint of worry in her voice. "All I can say is that there will surely be more than twenty or thirty of them. Now hurry up. And good luck." The line went dead.

I darted for my old phone book. All I could do was hope that Grandpa will let us go as soon as he and my brother came back.

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	36. Not now

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**A different point of view this time :)  
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Edward's POV**

"Maybe something is wrong?" Rosalie shifted restlessly at Emmett's side.

It'd been a week since Jasper and Alice came back. A week since I seriously fell apart with my children. And for the same seven days I didn't see them at school. Yesterday I couldn't take it anymore and even went to their house, but their scents were scarce as if they hadn't been there for at least a few days.

"Nothing is wrong. If they were sick, Charlie would have brought them to hospital or they would have come here." Esme tried soothing her.

_'It's my fault. I shouldn't have come back.' _As always Jasper blamed himself.

"Oh, stop it." I snapped getting their attention. I turned to my oldest brother. "I had never seen Adrian so unhappy and depressed like in these two weeks that you two were gone." I looked at my beautiful sister. "If you worry so much, then why don't you call her?"

"As if you are not worried." Rosalie glared at me. There was a short pause. "Besides, I don't have her number." She mumbled quietly.

"In all this time you didn't manage to get her phone number?" I asked incredulously. Wasn't my daughter her favorite niece?

She shook her head. "I never thought she would disappear and I wanted for her to trust me enough to give it herself..."

"What about Gediminas'?" Emmett glanced between our family members. He wanted to help.

"Oh, yeah, right. I have it on my speed dial. He gave it to me on our first meeting." Alice chirped in sarcastically. "Please. Like he trusts any of us."

"You cannot blame him." How could Esme be so calm... "He doesn't know us well. And he is just being protective about his sister. She is all that he has."

That moment Carlisle came home from work.

"Any word about the kids?" Rosalie looked at him hopefully.

"Well, they are not in hospital and nobody has seen them in the last week. It's a little difficult to ask about them without getting suspicious glances." He seemed thoughtful. Our faces fell. "Why don't you call them?" He asked as if it was the most obvious thing we should have done days ago.

"We don't have their numbers." Emmett was the only one to answer him.

My father nodded slowly. "You have Charlie's." He stated looking at me.

"Yes. I do." I stated hesitantly. I still had the number from my last stay in Forks. But there was no way in hell was I going to speak to Charlie. Somehow I didn't think he had forgiven me for what I had done to his daughter and the love of my life.

We all looked at Rosalie. Charlie had never talked to her.

"What?" Her eyes widened.

"I give you his number. You call." I smiled mischievously.

"Why?" She frowned. I rolled my eyes, but Alice was faster to answer.

"Because if Charlie answers, he hasn't ever talked to you thus he won't recognize your voice and you can pretend being someone from school. And if Adrian picks up, she will be glad to talk to you now that we are back and everything is the way it is supposed to be." She blurted out.

"My niece will be even happier to talk to Jasper." Rosalie tilted her head towards our brother.

Now Alice rolled her eyes. "If Gediminas answers, he can snap at Jasper for leaving in the first place." Her lover dropped his eyes to the floor. He was more embarrassed and sad about his almost-slip than ever before. "And he can stand you better than any of us." She smiled.

Rosalie sighed and looked at me. I took out my mobile phone and dialed the long missed number. When the gadget started ringing, I threw it to my sister.

_"Hello."_ A rough voice answered.

"Good afternoon, sir. I would like to talk to Adrian if she is not busy." Rosalie put on her best voice.

_"Who is calling?" _He got suspicious.

"I'm her classmate." Well done, sis. There was no need for him to know who was actually calling.

_"She is not home and won't be for another week." _He sounded bored.

"Oh, then maybe I could talk to Gediminas?" Talking to my son was better than nothing.

_"They are both visiting some friends in Europe or somewhere like that." _He was going to end the conversation soon.

"Oh, I didn't know that." Rosalie was surprised and hurt. Neither of them had mentioned it to her.

_"Yeah. Well, this is irresponsible in my opinion, leaving school for a week like this. But they said it was urgent. If you want I __can__ tell them you called."_ He wanted to finish.

"No, thank you, sir. Good day." He murmured something else and hung up. My sister threw me the gadget.

"They left without saying a word to us?" Emmett wasn't happy and neither was I. On the other hand, I couldn't expect their explanations after our last conversation.

"They probably have other responsibilities." Esme shrugged with a tiny smile at our concern.

"What kind of responsibilities could they have?" Alice turned her incomprehensible eyes to our mother.

"Sweetheart, they did have a life before we met them." Mom's lips stretched further. Entire twelve years that I had almost no idea about. None of us had.

"They could have mentioned that they were leaving." Rosalie whispered sadly. She thought they had been getting along quite well, but this proved how wrong she was.

"Charlie said it was urgent. They probably left at once after they heard whatever news they got from their friends." Esme shrugged.

"I don't want to lose them like we lost Bella. We should go look for them." Emmett stated firmly.

"And where would you start? An entire Europe? Charlie has no idea where they are and I don't think anybody does. For all we know, they could have gone to visit several friends in different countries. It will be much more difficult to find them than it was in Bella's case all those years ago. Then at least we knew where her mother used to live and could have looked for her. Now we know none of their friends." Rosalie felt hopeless.

"All we can do is hope that they come back." Carlisle put his arms around his wife. All couples were curled up together and I was alone _again. _I knew it was my own fault. And the dreadful feeling of déjà vu crept up my stone heart. This was exactly how my love left all those years ago. I didn't want to lose my children as well. Not that we were close or together, but still...

"They will. I am sure of that." Esme was certain and we all looked at her curiously. "This time Charlie is waiting for them." She shrugged with a smile.

Rosalie sighed and left the couch. She went upstairs.

"I am going for a hunt." Jasper whispered and Alice sprang up to go with him. "Sorry, love. But I need time to think." Her face fell. "Don't worry. I'll be back soon." He forced a smile. "You should help Rosalie to design something beautiful for our niece."

Alice bit her lip for a moment. We all looked at her. My favorite sister kissed her mate and ran upstairs. Jasper watched her go, sighed and left the house. I could see he wasn't planning to go far, so there was no need to worry about him.

I went to my piano and touched its keys. I hadn't done that for ages. Since the love of my life left, to be precise. I played Esme's favorite and then though I wanted to play Bella's lullaby, I moved on to Debussy's Clair de Lune.

_"You can do it, honey." _Esme gently whispered in her mind. It was obvious what I craved, but it was still too hard for me. The mere thought about my love seemed to tear my shattered heart into tiny pieces. I wasn't ready and I didn't think I ever will. I went upstairs to my room.

Hours later Alice's vision turned blank and she almost shrieked. We were at her side instantly.

"What happened?" Carlisle's voice was serious.

"I can't see Jasper." Her eyes were wide with fear.

"What do you mean, you can't see him?" Rosalie demanded.

"It's like when Gediminas or Adrian are nearby." She muttered.

"What was the last thing you saw?" I was anxious and reading her mind was a lost cause.

"He was running in the forest not far from here and suddenly it went blank." She was starting to shake and Esme hugged her.

"Take a deep breath and try again." Carlisle ordered softly.

After a minute of silence she whispered "nothing."

"Maybe it means the kids are back?" Rosalie was hopeful. Yeah, maybe this was the cause. But for some reason I couldn't stop being worried.

"Show me the last glimpse of him." I whispered to Alice. She looked at me a little surprised, but did as I had asked.

"I know the place." I turned to my father. "We should go and check it in case something wrong happened." He nodded. Emmett got up to go with us. "You should stay here. I have a bad feeling about this." I shook my head. He didn't want to stay behind, but then again he didn't want to leave his mate unprotected. My big brother huffed and sat down.

_"Let's go." _Carlisle whispered in his thoughts and we darted through the doors.

It took me almost ten excruciatingly long minutes to hear Jasper's mental voice. And when I did, I didn't like it at all. He was screaming from agonizing pain.

I sped up and left Carlisle far behind me. In a few more moments I saw my brother lying on the forest floor. He turned his eyes to me. They were filled with pain. I knelt at his side.

"What happened?" I glanced over his body. His hands, legs, even some of his ribs were clearly broken and looking in the wrong direction. Whatever had occurred in here, he should have already healed.

_"I don't really know." _I couldn't see why, but his thoughts turned embarrassed. It was something about what he had done. Jasper looked away from me and towards Carlisle who had just appeared at his side.

Our father knelt down and carefully caressed Jasper's body. He frowned the moment he touched it. My brother's screams from pain were deafening. At least he was shouting in his mind and not loudly.

"Can you move? Or at least speak?" Carlisle's voice was serious and concerned.

_"No."_ My brother almost pleaded in his thoughts. So terrible the pain was. I had never seen him so close to tears from physical contact.

Our father shook his head displeased. "We will have to carry him." He whispered.

Jasper's mind became alert. Any kind of movement was sure to cause him even more agony. But we couldn't leave him like this either.

"I will carry him." I whispered and looked at my father. "I'm faster." He nodded and got up. "Don't worry. This will be over soon." I looked at my brother and carefully lifted him in my arms. His screams became even worse if that was possible and I darted to our home. Carlisle followed us.

When we approached the house, I saw the rest of my family outside looking at us. Alice and Esme gasped. They would have been crying of they were humans.

I ran inside and gently put Jasper on a couch in the living room. He relaxed a little when movement stopped. Only now I noticed he wasn't breathing. The pain of moving his chest must have been too much.

Alice dashed and knelt down by his side. She looked frantic. Nobody knew what to do.

Carlisle took his bag from the studio and came to his oldest son. "This is going to hurt." He whispered. Jasper closed his eyes and opened them again instead of nodding. Our father put his hands on my brother's rib and gently pushed it until it clicked in its place. It wasn't difficult to tell from my father's thoughts that this was far from end. The rib had been not only forced out of joint, but also broken.

"What happened?" Emmett wanted to draw our attention away from our brother who obviously didn't like to be seen in this way.

"We don't know." I shook my head grimly. We were vampires! He should have healed already! What was happening here? My children couldn't have possibly done this. They weren't strong enough. Somebody else was involved.

"The dogs?" Rosalie scrunched her nose.

"No. He would have been torn to peaces and not left to live with broken bones." I shook my head. Alice whimpered softly. Jasper didn't want for her to see him like this, but he couldn't tell her himself. I, on the other hand, could but didn't have the heart to do it.

Hours later Carlisle finally stood up. We all looked hopefully at him.

"This is all I can do." He sighed. "I put all bones in their places, but almost all of them are broken to pieces." _He should have already healed! I don't understand this! _He felt hopeless just like the rest of us.

I had another feeling of déjà vu. Wasn't it only weeks ago that we were in a very similar situation? Just then one of my children was lying on the couch and another one was kneeling at its side. Today, just like then, I felt completely useless.

"Why isn't he healing?" I didn't remember Rosalie being so scared before.

"I don't know." Carlisle shook his head. "I have never seen or even heard about anything similar to this."

We were standing like this for some time when Alice had another vision. This one was even worse than Jasper disappearing.

"What is it?" Rosalie tensed up.

"The Volturi. They are coming." My sister and I whispered as one.

"What? Why?!" Emmett boomed.

Esme took a deep breath. "How many?" Her voice was hardly audible.

I chose my mother's question to answer. "Aro, Marcus and Caius, the entire guard and some I have never seen before." I turned to my father. "Neither have you." Those vampires were unknown to us. Their abilities and possible talents as well.

"All of them? But why?" Carlisle knew his old friends would never come so prepared for a friendly visit.

"They want Edward." Alice stated quietly and I winced.

"You will not meet them alone. We will all go when the time comes." Esme's voice was firm.

"I am not putting you in danger. You know what they will do if I refuse and there is no reason to endanger the entire town of Forks." I pleaded with my eyes.

"If you let Aro touch your hand, and you will have to do it once you join them, you will put Adrian and Gediminas, your children, in mortal danger." Rosalie always hit to the sorest point.

"When?" Carlisle was even more worried.

"Five days from now, in the morning." Alice mumbled. My family tensed up. It was nowhere near enough time to prepare if that was possible to do at all.

"Maybe we should leave?" Emmett's voice was hesitant.

"We can't." Alice whispered. Of course we couldn't. Not with Jasper in such a bad shape.

"What we should do is call our friends and ask them to witness. Maybe it will be enough to stop Aro." I couldn't help but be amazed at my mother's calmness and strength.

Carlisle nodded. "Call Tanya. I'll call the others." He looked at me. I hung my head.

It was decided. We were staying and fighting. Even if the battle was impossible to win.

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	37. This is it

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Edward's POV

The night before the fight we were all ready.

The Denali coven, except for Irina, came yesterday. She will never forgive us for the way it had ended with Laurent. Eleazer wasn't eager to meet Aro under such circumstances either; he knew too well the way it ended for those who stood between the Volturi and what they wanted, but he was Carlisle's friend, therefore he was staying not only to witness but also to fight if it came to that.

My father had called all his friends and those who were nearby came. There were only eight of them plus the four from Denali and us. Seventeen in all. I was not the only one to see that it was not enough. I sighed and earned Esme's warm look.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright." She murmured and came to sit by my side on a loveseat. "We will all be together."

Rosalie came rushing down from upstairs and took our home phone.

"I don't think using a different gadget will help." I rolled my eyes at her persistence.

"Who are you trying to call?" Our mother glanced between the two of us.

"Adrian and Gediminas." I stated in a matter-of-factly manner. My sister threw me a glare and put down the phone.

"They still haven't answered?" I could feel hurt in Esme's voice. Rosalie shook her head, huffed and sat on an armchair.

"They are safe. That's the most important thing." I knew these words will calm them down. At this moment I couldn't have wished anything more for my children than to be in another country, continent would be even better. They were so young and innocent. It was painful to understand that I was not going to be around to see them grow. Speaking of pain...

Alice snuffled sitting on the floor by her mate's side. She tried imagining telling my children about losing me to the Volturi. I felt sorry for my family because this was sure to cause a lot of emotions. And I could only scream in my mind and heart knowing that I will never see my children again.

Feeling of uselessness and hopelessness hadn't left me for almost two weeks.

Jasper closed his eyes. It was all he could do, move his eyes and eyelids. He still hadn't healed and we knew not a single way to help him. He hated his situation, causing so much pain, not being able to move or help us in any way in an upcoming battle. To make it worse, he knew that in such condition he was putting his lover in danger because Alice was not going to move from his side at all cost.

My favorite sister lightly caressed his shoulder causing another wave of agony. I winced, his pain had long resulted in my migraine.

We still had a few hours before we had to go thus I went upstairs to my room.

I closed the doors behind me and turned on the silent music. Debussy used to calm me, but it wasn't enough this time. I heard a knock on my doors.

"Come in." I sighed. Conversation was not the best thing for my mood right now.

"Mind if we talk?" Kate walked in and closed the doors. She sat on a couch while I was lying on my bed. I shrugged. "What's with Adrian and Gediminas?" She asked and I looked at her surprised. How could she not understand? "Who are they?" Of course, she didn't even now about them.

"My children." I whispered savoring the last word.

Her eyes widened in astonishment. "Your what?"

"My son and daughter." I forced a tiny smile. Those two words were both endearing and excruciating. I had never imagined having kids because we didn't know it was possible so there was no reason to torment myself over things I simply could not have. But when I found them and came to know them, they were always on my mind just like the love of my life.

"How? When?" She couldn't imagine that happening. We were vampires after all.

"How? The same way as humans do." I chuckled darkly. "When?" I took a deep unnecessary breath. "Apparently twelve years ago."

"When you were with that human?" Her thoughts were not insulting, but I barely stopped myself from growling. My love was not a mere human. She was special and wonderful in ways nobody could imagine.

"Bella. Yes." I nodded slightly. She wanted to know more, to hear a full story. Since she was probably the last one to hear it from me, why not? "The last time when I let myself be close to her, we..." I trailed off. Kate could imagine perfectly well what we had done. "Then for her own good, or so I thought at the time, I pushed her away. She always loved me. I knew that. I should have left, but I couldn't. She would have been shattered into pieces and so would have been I." I paused finally realizing what I had done all those years ago. "I chose an even worse way to force her away from me. I ignored her for some time and when I saw that it wasn't working, I pretended crushing on another human girl. Though the mere thought always made me sick. Eventually I achieved that we stopped speaking to each other. Actually, I ignored her enough so that she finally ceased trying to get my attention." I took another breath. My hurting heart was screaming from pain. "Then one day she came to me while we were in the school's cafeteria. She wanted to say something, but I never let her put a word in." I paused. I was right all along. There was no monster worse than me. "That day I said things I had never meant. The worst thing is that some of those metaphors actually turned out to be true without me even knowing that. Bella had survived months of my ons and offs, my defiance, even insults when I thought there was no other way. But those few sentences, those few words pushed her away from me for good. When she left, she never came back. I should have felt happy for her moving on, but I didn't. It was even worse because I knew that I could have spent her entire life by her side and I was the only reason why we were not together." It was my fault that my family's lives had been destroyed.

There were a few quiet minutes. Kate knew there was nothing to say that could cheer me up. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to lift my mood.

"Isn't it time to go?" Eleazer broke the silence. Sun was starting to rise. He wanted to get over with this as soon as possible.

"Yes. It is." Carlisle glanced at his watch and got up. Our guests were by the front door, inside or outside.

I went downstairs and Esme glanced at Alice questioningly. It was obvious that Jasper was not going, not that he didn't want, but he simply couldn't. His lover on the other hand... My sister shook her head slightly and Esme's face fell. Our mother wanted to have as many children with herself as she could. Carlisle put his comforting hand on her shoulder and led her outside. I nodded to Alice and left the house. The two were staying alone at home because we would need everybody we could get in the field. And if it went wrong, staying at home or going to the clearing was not going to make much of a difference.

The sun slowly shifted behind the trees unwilling to rise this morning as if afraid to see the end of the day and leaving the clearance in the shadows. It was indeed a dark day for us.

We were standing on one side of the field. Facing the place in a tree line where they should come. Carlisle was in front of the others hoping to negotiate with Aro. Then me and Emmett, the first line of defense. Behind us were Esme and Rosalie still refusing to leave our backs. And behind us were all our friends willing to fight, though now not so sure anymore about the upcoming outcome.

They emerged from the forest like rulers of this world. Gliding rather than walking. The three kings were in front of the others, closely followed by their guards and a group of thirty vampires marching in the back. I stiffened at the latter's thoughts, they had come for nothing less but slaughter. Though Aro seemed willing enough to talk and let me decide instead of forcing their hand on us at once.

This was it. There was no way back.

The Volturi stopped right in front of us. Aro, Marcus and Caius standing first, hovered by three of their personal guards. A step behind them were thirty vampires talented in one way or another as at the moment they were thinking about the best ways how to use their abilities in killing or torturing us.

"Aro, my friend" My father greeted. He still hadn't ceased hope to end this peacefully without losing me.

"Carlisle. Nice to see you well." Aro responded in his falsely friendly tone.

"What brings you here?" My father tried to remain calm and oblivious to the obvious but miserably failed.

"I am sad to say that this is not a friendly visit, but more of a formal one." Aro became serious.

"What do you want?" Carlisle tensed up. There was hardly a point in pretending to know nothing.

"To maintain an order in our world we need the best people, so we came to talk to your son." Aro shifted his eyes to me. He knew too well that friendliness towards me was a waste of time.

"Edward. Face it, there is only one thing you can do and one thing only you have to do to make sure your family and friends do not get hurt. Join us. We want only you, and we will leave the rest unharmed." Aro said convincingly. "We not just outnumber you, but we are also much stronger." He said with a smirk on his face.

He was right. There were only five of us plus twelve more friends, whereas their side consisted of thirty more or less talented vampires not including Aro, Marcus, Caius and three more of their personal guards.

Seventeen against thirty at least, if not thirty-six. It was more than obvious that the Volturi was going to win. Everybody seemed to know this. I understood that, but still didn't dare to move. _"Time"_ a quiet pleading voice shouted in my head.

"Edward?" Aro reminded me. I hung my head in defeat and he smiled widely recognizing my surrender. He was in no hurry once he knew I was going to join them.

Time? Even if we had time, we had no hope. I will surrender and cease to exist as an individual. At least my two children, who hated me from the bottoms of their hearts, will live on. They were safe, what else could I ask for?

A heartbeat? Even two? I felt shock and disbelief around myself, so I raised my head.

A girl and a boy walked into the clearing from different sides, stopped a few steps in front of Carlisle and turned to face the Volturi. They were both dressed in black. Even the girl's tie in her hair was dark.

"Hello." I heard a strong friendly female voice greeting loudly.

"Good morning." A shy and polite male's voice said quietly.

Adrian? Gediminas? What were they doing here? They couldn't have possibly hoped to help us?! For some completely unknown reason my daughter was smiling. Even my son, usually standing slightly stooped with his head slightly bowed, now appeared to be completely different. They were both standing at their full height, heads lifted up even more than was necessary to see everything, confidence clear in their eyes. Their postures were screamed that they had come for nothing less than an absolute victory and now were simply giving time to the Volturi to surrender and run away.

I couldn't understand that and apparently neither could the others. They were kids, what were they expecting to achieve? In any way, we were still outnumbered, let alone some of us were women and hardly any of us were trained to fight professionally.

Then it was like somebody had turned on the radio at full blast. So many thoughts, so many voices and emotions screaming in my head!

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	38. Irony of life

**Hello. Sorry for not updating sooner, but this chapter was the most difficult to write so far.**

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Less than an hour ago_

**Adrian's POV**

We had been away for almost two weeks. I had never visited so many different countries in such a short time before. Come to think about it, in the last fortnight we visited all continents except for Antarctica. And that was only because we didn't have much time. But now we were finally back. I was with my brother and twelve friends. More were coming.

There was no more than half an hour left before the fight, and we were standing in front of our house in Forks.

"Is there no other way to protect my grandfather from this?" I turned to Madeline.

"I'm afraid no." She locked her eyes with mine. "But don't worry. It's not like we have never done this before." She forced a smile. And she was right. We had done similar things before. It's just that it had never been my family in danger.

"I only wish we could do something." I paused. "Charlie is a human. If something goes wrong..."

"Charlie?" She asked surprised. "Who's talking about him?"

"You said my family was in danger..." I had never called anybody else but grandpa and mom my family.

She rolled her eyes, "If Charlie was in danger, I would have sent you some tickets to Las Vegas or somewhere else like that."

Then it hit me. My family, the Volturi, a need for all my friends in here... Who did those Italians think they were when they decided to threaten _my_ family?! Nobody had a right to hurt them except me and my brother!

Gediminas laughed looking at me, and Madeline could hardly stop a grin seeing my facial expression.

"Care to share the inside joke?" Erdman always had to know everything.

"Oh, it's nothing." My brother's smile was contagious. "Somebody just came back to reality." He chuckled. I knew Gediminas meant only the best for me, but his comments could be very annoying sometimes...

"Shouldn't we get moving?" Adan hadn't told his parents where he was going, and I had a suspicion that most of my friends hadn't either.

"Hey! Wait for us!" We all turned around to see Leander and three others running our way. Late as usual. His shoulder length blond hair were blowing around in the wind. He was strong and looked like one though his replicas could cause more harm than his actions.

"We will need everyone we can get." Gediminas glanced at Taran with a hard face. My friend was never known for patience. That's why there were hardly any sunny days where he lived.

"Hey." Calder ran over to us gasping for air. His clothes were almost dripping with water. Had he swam all the way to Forks? "I need to borrow some gasoline. Do you have any at home?" He looked at me.

Why would he need something like that? "Yeah, we have a few canisters in a garage."

"Thanks. We'll borrow some." He blurted and dashed with Nereus to find the fuel. I shook my head and glanced at my brother.

"Alright guys." Gediminas called for attention. "We need to make some things clear before we go, so that when we are in the clearing, there would be no misunderstandings and everybody would know exactly their positions and jobs." He was serious without a trace of humor.

"I would like to stand in the first line this time." Dike carefully whispered and Bren snorted. The two were complete opposites. The first was quiet and shy whereas the other one was loud and emotional, quick to act. Though I had to admit, they were both strong and invaluable help in a fight.

My brother took a breath. "And today you will." He nodded to the twelve-year-old looking boy. I had no reservations about this decision; the saying 'appearance can be deceiving' fit him perfectly, though a line of offense consisting of children whereas our defense was made of older teenagers was due to look... interesting if I may say so.

"You will be the first line of defense." I stated facing my brother, knowing it without any discussions. Gediminas was the best of us when it came to protection.

"And you will be our offense." His eyes turned hard. I knew it pained him that we couldn't switch places. But he was the one I wanted at my family's side if it came to a fight. He will make them safe, and he will not waver if I got hurt. He was strong enough for that. And I was the one who could make anybody fall in huge distances without much concentration. I was our hope when it came to immobilizing half the enemy's forces.

"And where do you want us?" Alik was young and she hated fighting, but she was great at reassuring people and stopping them from making mistakes in battlefields. She was going to stand by Esme, my... grandmother. It was strange to call her like that, but today it felt right.

**Edward's POV**

As soon as the noise appeared, silence fell around us. A moment later I could hear the Volturi's thoughts, but not my family or friends. I glanced around; they were still there, but I couldn't get a thing from them. The Italians couldn't have taken away my ability because their minds were exactly where they had been. What was happening?

Sun disappeared completely behind thick clouds leaving the clearing in dark shadows. The snow on the ground was black like soil.

My daughter took a step forward. Now she stood in the direct line of sight between Aro and Carlisle.

Seven kids entered the clearing from both sides of it. Three of them stopped on Adrian's right, leaving a gap big enough for one more, and the other four were on her left. I glanced over them: a boy looking no older than twelve, another one barely in his fourteens, two girls who seemed fragile like glass and three lads eighteen or nineteen at best standing at the very ends of formation. They all made a perfect line slightly arching towards the Volturi at its ends.

"You do not know us." My daughter's strong voice boomed over the clearing making everybody silent. "But that is not important." She paused. Aro was interested in this show and Caius could hardly suppress laughter seeing kids in our front line. "You have come to... offer my father to join you." Another quiet moment. "I am sorry to let you know, that he will not be doing this." A smile was playing on her own lips. "At least not any time soon." Her eyes sparkled with determination challenging them to disagree.

Did she honestly think that she could save me? How? Why? Didn't they all know that the Volturi were invincible?! Saying these words in such a confident manner should have taken a lot of courage.

"A human? Threatening us?" Caius lost his composure and even Aro smirked, but he kept his curious eyes bearing into Adrian. "We could easily kill you with less than a snap of our fingers."

"Human?" A boy at the very left of the front line cried out in surprised voice. "Where?" His eyes were wide darting around, but his lips were grinning. He soon burst out in a short laughter while most of the children also chuckled. Even my daughter let a tiny forgiving smirk reach her features and shook her head slightly like teaching subnormal kids.

"As I said, you do not know us." She sounded calm and fearless. "It would be for the best of everybody's if you left." Diplomat, speaking for all of us. I had never seen her so confident...

"Edward. Will you let these kids fight for you?" Aro was more amused by the children than frightened.

Of course I was not going to let anybody make another move. Especially if it could have provoked the Volturi. I wanted my kids out of here. And their friends away as well. They were too young and innocent for this.

I was about to take a step forward when I felt a strong hand on my left shoulder restraining me from going anywhere. I turned to my side and saw an eighteen, maybe nineteen years old boy. His eyes and hair were dark brown. His touch was firm but friendly. It was warm. Definitely not one of the guards. I couldn't hear his thoughts, but he looked vaguely familiar. I glanced back at my daughter and remembered the face. His name was Alexander, the object of my girl's fascination.

"Why did you come here at all?" Caius was almost laughing at the sight before him. Nine fragile children standing protectively in front of us, strong vampires.

"We protect what's ours." A redoubtable and serious male voice stated from somewhere behind me.

I looked around. There were more kids now. A girl was standing by Esme, another one was at my sister's side, five boys at the back were watching our friends as if ready to spring and stop them from taking a single step. I glanced forward and noticed a young man near Carlisle. He was no older than thirty or thirty-five.

"Did you tell your parents you were coming here?" Aro turned his eyes to the blond fourteen-year-old boy on my daughter's left. The kid sheepishly looked at the sky and bit his lip. "Did you get their permission to come?"

The child half turned to us and addressed the man, "Dad, you don't really mind me coming here, do you?" He looked apologetic.

"I would have liked to learn about this from you and not your bypassing friend. Though it's fine with me as long as you are the one to explain your brothers why they were left behind." The man said calmly but with an edge of irritation.

The scene would have been humorous if not for gravely circumstances. They were not leaving alive. There was no way for that.

"How about let's make it move it move it?" A kid on my far right asked looking at my son. He sounded almost like from the song 'I like to move it'.

"Wait... Let the others come." My daughter answered with her head raised a little higher than it was necessary. Her smile never wavered.

"Adrian, do you have any more friends up your sleeve?" Emmett tried joking, but it simply didn't fit the mood.

A tanned and slim boy slowly emerged from of my daughter's shadow on the snow. His eyes and hair were pitch black. "How did you know I was here?" He looked surprised and annoyed. "Nobody has ever found me before." He narrowed his eyes at my brother, who in turn widened his in astonishment. After a moment of staring at the big guy, the kid clapped his hands in anticipation, "So, anybody has any problems?"

"Wrong side, idiot." The blond boy hissed.

"Oh, sorry." The newest addition smiled and turned to face the Volturi. "Hello." He offered a friendly wave to wide eyed Caius and the guard. Even Marcus had never seen anything like this before.

Aro didn't like it. Our number was growing and according to my daughter more were coming. Granted that they were only children, but at least some of them were obviously special.

"Guys?" Adrian slightly tilted her head to the left never letting the Volturi out of her sight.

A few kids from behind me murmured in unison "sure."

I don't think anybody but my children and their friends had expected what happened then. With a racking groan, a deep, narrow fissure opened in a long zigzag just behind my daughter and the first line of her friends and across the middle of the clearing. The earth rocked under my feet for a moment. The drifts of snow plummeted into the hole.

Silence fell upon us. Nobody dared to say a word.

Only now I noticed two more boys standing at both far sides of the line by the very edge of the land. They took a tiny step backwards, away from the abyss. After kneeling down they put their hands at the crack in the ground. I had no idea from where, but I could smell gasoline's stench polluting air. My family and friends as well as the Volturi's guards crouched in defensive positions.

For the second time today I felt a firm grip tightening on my shoulder. "If you want to help, don't do or say anything." A calm and collected voice whispered at my side. I looked with incredulity at Alexander. Was he out of his mind? My daughter was on the other side of that crack and he wanted me to do nothing?! "They know what they are doing better than anyone else." His eyes shone with confidence. I forced a deep breath into my lungs and made myself straighten up.

"Don't worry. YOU are safe." The young man addressed my father. Carlisle glanced at him and slowly but determinedly stood up. I didn't need to read his mind to know that he couldn't help himself, but see the smelling liquid as a threat.

This time Aro didn't look amused. Of course, it would take a lot more than just gasoline to kill a vampire, but the ground was ready for a bonfire, literally. "You are still outnumbered." His voice was finally serious with little to no friendliness. He looked at his old former friend.

"Forget them!" Adrian slightly rolled her head motioning at us. "If you want to talk, talk to me." Her voice held no fear or hesitation. She was the head of our front line.

The guard started shifting in their places. They wanted to fight; the young ones were losing their patience.

I wanted to go to her, tell her and her friends to get out of here, save themselves. But a strong hand still lingering on my shoulder tightened again. I looked at Alexander, but he only shook his head. I sighed and turned forward.

"Sorry, am I missing something? Since when there are more of them than us?" A girl on my daughter's right sounded confused. She glanced at the others.

"They are _vampires_." The blond boy rolled his eyes as if this was an explanation in itself. The gal didn't seem convinced and he sighed. "Their senses are limited."

Limited? We were vampires, the strongest creatures to walk this ground! Last time I checked, we had the best senses in this world! And he was calling us _limited_?!

This was enough to set off the latest Volturi's additions. They launched themselves forward to attack.

"Stop!" Aro yelled at the top of his lungs. He was looking at my daughter and her friends. None of them had moved an inch. Instead they all seemed confident, as if just waiting for this to happen. It wasn't natural. Something was wrong; something that none of us had any idea about was going on in here.

The guard halted. All of them but one. A lad flew right at one of the girls. She stepped aside just in time before he could grab her. A frightening sound came from the ground and huge flames flashed from the crack. I expected the vampire to go straight through them at us, but he was grabbed by the fire. I had never imagined it was possible! It was against all Physics laws I knew! A boy at the very far left side of the front line lifted his hand twisting his fingers and flames turned a screaming guy around for the Volturi to see his pained face. He was burning alive! Every vampire crouched in a defensive position. Adrian kept her eyes on Aro without wavering, but some of her friends half turned to watch the show of a dieing man. Even if he was an enemy, this was cruel! The boy flexed his fingers again and after another flash there was nothing but ashes falling down.

I was speechless, _again_. So was the Volturi. Nobody had expected this! Not from so innocent looking children!

"We are not going to attack." My daughter broke the silence. "But we will defend ourselves."

Jane hissed and was ready to spring, but changed her mind. The flames slowly subsided, though they were still visible above the ground. She tensed up and gave Adrian a murderous look. There was no question what she was trying to do without any success. She got impatient and turned her glare to Carlisle. I wanted to get my father out of her sight, but I couldn't take a step. Alexander was keeping me still.

"Jasner?" A young teenager looked at my son with pleading eyes. "Please? Just a moment." Gediminas shook his head. "She could certainly use a lesson." The boy smirked. There was no change in my child's position and the kid reluctantly sighed.

"Jasper?" Esme questioned behind me. My brother had stayed at home. There was no way he could have come here.

"Mirat is calling Jasner." A girl at my mother's side said in a gentle voice.

Who was Jasner? And why was the boy calling my son by that name?

"Alec?" That one word from Aro was enough to announce the end of our lives.

Carlisle and the rest of my family and friends straightened up to meet complete numbness and eventually our deaths. Only the kids remained the same, confident with tiny smiles playing around their lips. I felt sorry for them. They wouldn't even know what hit them. They would simply stop existing and I could do nothing to help my children.

A mist was getting closer and in a few more minutes it reached the front line. Surprisingly none of them said a word or moved an inch. When it hit Carlisle, he blinked in astonishment and looked down at his hand. He couldn't see anything and was uncomfortable by that, feeling his end approaching. Esme wanted to stand by his side, but the girl next to her took my mother by her elbow to make sure she did not go anywhere.

"Am I supposed to go blind at some point or is this a different ability?" A girl on Adrian's right asked loudly glancing at her sides. My daughter's lips broke out into an open grin as did her friends'.

The mist touched me and in moments I was engulfed in it. This was not what I had expected! I could see just as clear as before. And I knew for sure this was not how it was supposed to be. Aro trusted for us to be blind, deaf and non-feeling. I looked down at my hand. The mist was there, translucent but still there crawling on my skin yet unable to truly touch me.

I glanced up at the Volturi. They were astounded. A shield was the only possible explanation. I knew Gediminas had personal mental defense, but was he that strong? Was he powerful enough to cover all of us? Apparently yes. Maybe we weren't so helpless after all. However, that left a hand-to-hand fight.

"Carlisle." Aro raised his voice. Adrian rolled her eyes but this time remained silent. "I have no wish of hurting your family or friends and especially these wonderful children." Some of the boys chortled. "I want to offer you a deal." My father focused on his former friend.

"Why should we listen to you when you are the ones at a disadvantage?" The boy controlling the fire asked loudly.

"Don't you have a spokesperson?" Caius was getting agitated, their plan was failing and every kid who moved seemed to be special, gifted, and then there were those who had remained silent and still, absolute enigmas.

"We are one. We think like one." The boy shrugged.

"If we fight, there will be a bloodbath. There is no need for that." Aro was determined to continue ignoring everything and everyone else. "I suggest that one of you fights one of us. None of the three of us will be fighting. The winners get what they want; if you are lucky, we will leave. If we win, Edward joins us." He was certain of the latter happening. He stretched out his hand for Carlisle to shake it. Though the only thing he really wanted right now was to learn exactly which kid had what ability.

"That's not gonna work. They know nothing about us." The blond kid exclaimed with a grin. Their laid back attitude was starting to get on my nerves. What wouldn't I give for just a glimpse into my son's thoughts... Aro shifted his eyes to me; I was the mind-reader, an ultimate access to all the information he needed. "He knows even less." The boy bluntly laughed at the man's failed attempts.

"And who will stop you from barging in here tomorrow to ask for somebody else?" The boy at the very right exclaimed already knowing the answer. Aro gave a mischievous grin. They could come back as many times as they wanted and nobody could protect us from them.

Carlisle closed his eyes in pain. He didn't want to lose anybody. None of us did.

Emmett shifted by my side ready to fight.

"Dike." Gediminas nodded his head looking in front of himself. Who was he talking about?

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the twelve-year-old boy stepping forward. Were they out of their minds sending a child to fight?!

"You must be kidding me!" Caius boomed amused. "Or is this an insult?" His eyes narrowed. "Sending a toddler to fight us."

Aro looked suspiciously at the boy. The child was slender, pale, with fair hair and generally rather small. Only now I noticed what he was wearing. My children had pullovers, and most of the other kids also had jackets or sweaters on themselves. But he was wearing only jeans and a gossamer t-shirt. His pale bare arms were folded behind him in a shy and careful but open manner. There was something very wrong in here!

"What's wrong? Are you afraid?" The blond kid openly laughed. Couldn't he behave at least a little? Felix hissed seriously annoyed by these young brats. "Bring it on, big guy." He teased looking at the huge guard.

"Felix." Aro warned in a low voice. The fighter relaxed; he could deal with the boy any time.

"Jeremy." Caius announced and a young lad stepped forward. Aro frowned at his brother's decision but let it go at once. The chosen man was somewhat strange, he wasn't the fastest or the strongest of them. His ability was different, one I had never seen or heard of before.

"A jumpster?" Adrian enquired frankly curious. Wasn't she afraid at all of her friend getting hurt?

"Very well." Aro's smile was impressed and slightly surprised. "I did not know you could tell them apart from the others." The smile turned into a menacing one, but my daughter didn't even flinch. How could she be so relaxed and confident in everything they did?

Her lips stretched apart. "You have three jumpsters. We have two phoenixes. Only we know which of you are the ones." Her grin almost surpassed the man's. She meant no good, at least not her words.

The young lad stood in front of the boy.

"Is something wrong?" The child shyly asked. His eyes sparkled like there was literal fire behind them.

The man's eyebrows shot up in fear. He remembered a lesson he had had from an old woman decades maybe centuries ago. "_You are a jumpster. It means you can walk or 'jump' through solid things and even living beings. Though if you do the latter, they will die. Only those who do not need heartbeat to live, like vampires and a few others, will survive, but their entire skeletons will be shattered and will not heal, ever. You belong to the kind of one of the strongest beings to walk this earth. Nobody will ever be able to hurt you. Nobody. Except for phoenixes. Beware of them, for they will not leave you alive. That is a purpose of their lives. Usually they look like children or young adults and are loners. They seem to be fragile, slim, average height, pale, almost undernourished. There are very few of them. Even less than us. But if you try jumping through one of them, you will burn alive. If a phoenix is strong, even a touch can be enough to set you on fire. And nobody will be able to help you. When you see one, run as fast and as far as you can."_

Well, the description fit perfectly. The young man looked like he had just seen a ghost or worse. For him maybe it was.

"Master. I cannot fight him." He turned to Caius. "I surrender." There was no hesitation in his voice. All he wanted to do was get out of here and preferably this continent, and not even his master's rage could change his mind.

"What do you mean you will not fight?!" Caius hissed. Aro motioned for the lad to touch his hand. The man obeyed without a second thought.

There was silence for a few moments. In his memories I saw exactly what they did to Jasper. He and his friends had attacked my brother just for fun and now he will never be able to move again. Aro finally dropped the hand and the man retreated as close to the woods as he could. Another two men started shifting uncomfortably. They were also _those jumpsters_ and didn't fancy the idea of getting acquainted with the boy.

"A fight without a fight? I do not mind it." Adrian's smile became normal and honest.

"What? So we don't get even to wrestle?" The blond dug his puppy eyes into Felix trying to provoke the latter.

"We can always meet some other time. Just the two of us." The big guy smirked. "Tell me where and when and I will be there."

"You are from Volterra? Right?" The teenager exclaimed excitedly. "Great! I will make a surprise for you then."

"A surprise? Please! You are practically neighbors." A girl at my sister's side whispered. The Volturi looked taken aback. Apparently they didn't know their surroundings as well as they thought. Felix's eyes glistened with anticipation.

Esme shifted uncomfortably behind me and my father was tensed.

"The fight is over. We are the winners." My daughter's voice was loud and clear. It was impossible to miss the underlying meaning.

"Here maybe. But some of your family got left behind. Remember? Alone and defenseless in the house. Edward, are you still sure about your decision?" Caius smirked.

Jasper! Alice! They had sent some of their assassins to kill my siblings! My sister would never leave her lover's side and he couldn't move an inch. She wouldn't even be able to see them coming because at least one of the killers sent their way was neither a human nor a true vampire. They had no hope of surviving!

Esme cried out in fear in her thoughts, and Carlisle once again snapped his eyes shut in pain.

This time shock crossed even Adrian's features. She couldn't have expected this.

"Are you honestly so naive to think that we would leave any of my family members unprotected?" Disappointment was all over her face. Now Aro's eyes widened in realization. My children had thought about everything. "Looks like so." She paused. "You have already lost one of your members here and another one was smart enough to run away. Another... what? Four? Five? killers will never be seen again for they will meet their deaths before they even get a glimpse at the house. Your number is shrinking while you haven't been able even to touch us."

"Very well." Aro slightly nodded his head. It was obvious that if they fought, they would have lost many more of them. At least that's what he thought. I could hardly believe that we all survived to live another day, and I didn't even have to leave my family! "We will meet again." This was meant to sound as a warning. Anybody else would have cowered. Anybody but my children. I definitely had a lot to learn about them.

"And we will be waiting." Adrian smiled again. That grimace looked like plastered on her face. It hadn't faltered even once during all of this, only turned into a grin from time to time. "Good day." She sideways nodded her head.

Aro didn't want to leave as a loser, but the only other choice was to battle those who had proven to be stronger and completely unknown factor.

They turned away from us and left without another word.

**

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Thank you for reading. This chapter turned out to be slightly longer than I expected, so there is still a chapter or two short ones left till the end. Tell me what you think and what you did or didn't like.**


	39. What do you know?

**Hello.**

**Here it is. My longest chapter ever!**

**There is one more left, but that will be a some sort of epilogue. Hopefully it will be shorter, so that I could post it before getting lost in Christmas :)**

**Thank you for your reviews. They mean a lot to me.**

**Enjoy!**

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Edward's POV**

Caius, Marcus and the Guard turned around and left. Aro hated this. Everything had begun just the way he wanted: I had agreed to come with them without a fight. But then the kids came... Now there was nothing he could do. He had already lost some of his dearest and most talented new additions before my children even sprang to attack. He closed his eyes in acceptance. There was no doubt that they will return and then they will be ready, but for the time being we were safe and together.

Aro turned around and followed the others out of the field.

It was difficult to believe that we had survived and not one of us was hurt. My eyes glided to my children. I had a lot to thank them and their friends for. And to apologize to my son; I just hoped he hadn't told his sister about our last conversation, for she would be furious with me. I knew I had to move and say something to them but how to start?

Gediminas relaxed and finally a smile appeared on his face. Adrian turned around and flew straight into his open arms. A wave of cheers erupted around me. Everybody was congratulating each other; kids were high-fiving and patting those closest to them, whereas couples of my family and our friends got forgotten in embraces.

Just like every other night at home I felt lonely. At least this time I wasn't the only one. Alexander shifted next to me finally taking his hand off my shoulder. I turned to him; he was silently watching my daughter. His loving eyes never left her. I still couldn't read his mind, nor could I hear any other thoughts of the people surrounding me. After what seemed to stretch on for an eternity the couples broke apart and looked around. All children looked innocent, fragile and weak, but there was no one who wanted to test their abilities. Well maybe no one apart from Emmett. Obviously he couldn't help himself but feel intrigued by new possible challenges.

The only adult who had come with the kids approached my father. "You have wonderful children." He paused for a moment. "You must be very proud of them." His voice was friendly, but I couldn't miss the protective tone of his words as if saying that these children should receive only the best in this world. I had never thought that complete strangers would care about them so much.

"I certainly am." Carlisle smiled looking at the man. An edge of doubt lingered in his voice. I didn't have to read his mind to know that he wasn't impressed with kids burning the vampire and possibly killing a few more, but there was no way for him to deny that the young saved our lives.

"Sorry. I guess I should start the introductions." Chirping in, my daughter left her brother's arms and came to the two men. "Sir." She addressed Carlisle. The word painfully pierced his heart. It sounded too official to come from his family member and he had long started seeing her as his granddaughter. "This is Jason. He is a father of my friend." Her voice was soft and gentle as if she saw the stranger as a close and important person in her life. She turned to the man. "Jason, this is Carlisle. He is..." she trailed off like she wasn't sure how to call my father, "...my grandfather." She finished carefully making it sound almost like a question. She shyly turned to look at Carlisle for his confirmation. His eyes glowed with happiness at this little word; he was the first one from all of us that my children had recognized as a true family member. Well, at least now I could hope that they wouldn't leave right away.

"I am glad to finally meet Adrian and Gediminas' family." Jason offered his hand. The 'finally' word sounded intriguing. I wondered how long he had known my children, and how many more people knew them better than we did. Glancing around I saw all kids following this interaction. A decision about my children's future will be made now.

"Likewise." Carlisle shook his hand. Some kids smiled and even cheered. I never realized it was so important to them. "Thank you very much for your help."

"You have nothing to thank us for." The young man smiled. "Your children have done this many times for us. It is only natural that we came. In fact I am sure that more would have come if they had known." Carlisle looked surprised. And he wasn't the only one. What did the young man mean by saying 'many times'?_ How_ many times my daughter and son had put themselves in danger to protect the others? I couldn't hate the silence in my mind more than at that moment.

Alexander chose now to take a step aside and stood in front of me. His smile was gentle, and his eyes were shining with love never letting Adrian out of his sight.

She turned to him and for awhile they got lost in each other's eyes. Finally she dashed to him and took his hands into hers. "I didn't know you were here!" Hadn't she invited him?

"You would have if you had called me." His eyes turned into accusing ones, and my daughter blushed dropping hers to the ground. "A message would have been enough." He whispered trying to keep this private.

"I didn't want you here." She murmured. "If anything had gone wrong, I had no wish of you getting hurt."

He took her face in his hands and made her look at him. "You know all too well that I cannot stop worrying about you every time you are in danger."

"I can take care after myself." Adrian defensively leaned back to have a better look at the boy.

He sighed. "I know..." he trailed off and a smile appeared on his face, "but I can't help it."

For a few minutes they were quiet looking at each other.

My daughter was the one to break the silence. "Are you going to stay here?" She was hopeful. I had no wish of him anywhere close to her, especially now that we had so much to talk about.

Alexander's eyes glided sideways for a moment. "I didn't exactly tell my family where I was going or that I was leaving at all for that matter..."

Adrian's face fell, but she quickly regained her smile. "Then I'll come with you." She blurted out. NO! In absolutely no way was she leaving now!

He took another breath. "We have all the time in the world, and right now you have to stay here." I was confused. If he loved her enough to risk his life by showing up in here, then why didn't he want her to come with him?

She shook her head. "Everybody is safe. There is no danger left. I have nothing left in here and Grandpa will understand." Obviously by saying 'grandpa' she meant Charlie and I could see how much it pained Carlisle that the word was not applied for him. He was only 'sir' for her. And her determination to get away from here, from us wasn't helpful either.

The boy forced a gentle smile and lightly put his hands on her shoulders. "Remember your favorite saying?" He raised his eyebrows in question. She seemed confused and he carried on. "It's not our thoughts that define us, but..." he trailed off leaving for her to finish.

"... our actions." My daughter still couldn't grasp what he meant. Neither could I.

His smile became honest and somehow... proud? He gently started turning her around so that she could see us all: her family, friends and our guests. "Most of them are natural enemies." He whispered in her ear. Other kids where laughing and talking animatedly while my family and our friends were watching this. "And definitely none of us would have thought about helping vampires." What exactly was his problem with vampires? I would have to talk to him later about this statement. "Even if they are innocent, hostility towards them is in our blood." I had to admit it was true. We were everybody's natural enemy because of what we were. "Hatred even to each other is inborn for us." He paused. Now they were facing the boy who had controlled the fire and a girl. "Have you ever seen fire laughing with ice?" They both watched their friends for a minute and he finally turned her back to him. "You are the one who brought us here. You are the one who united all of us." His eyes were shining with love. Love that I couldn't understand. Weren't they too young for this? "I want you to be happy and right now you need to be here." She opened her mouth to say something, but he put his finger on her lips to keep her quiet. I didn't like him touching her like this. But for his own good he was gentle. "I missed you immensely. That's why I came. But we have entire summer and the rest of the eternity." He paused. "I know how much you need them."

'Stay.' Adrian mouthed with pleading look.

He sighed. "I guess I could stay here through the very beginning till you feel comfortable with them." Her smile became mischievous. "It will take nowhere near as long as you think." He grinned back. Was he also a mind reader because he seemed to know exactly what my daughter was thinking...

Alexander turned her around and sneaked his hands on hers and around her waist. I barely stopped myself from growling. Who gave him a right to act like this?!

Rosalie chose this moment to come forth. Adrian noticed her and slipped away from Alexander though he stayed far too close to her for my liking.

"You will never scare us like this again." My sister stated with loving eyes but her voice had never been so hard while talking to her niece.

"Scare you?" My daughter's eyes darted to her brother looking for an explanation. "But I couldn't have scared you." She looked back at her aunt. "Surely Alice must have seen us here."

"Alice can't see you at all." Emmett stepped in reminding his niece about our helplessness.

She dismissed the idea by changing the subject. "You, on the other hand, definitely frightened us by showing up in this clearing." Her eyes were wide with innocence.

"We are vampires. We can protect ourselves." Rosalie wasn't letting it go. "You shouldn't have come here at all. It wasn't safe or wise." No matter the most likely outcome had they not come, I had to agree with my sister.

"Yeah. Right. And you coming here was very wise." The firestarter snorted. We all glanced at him. "If this had gone south, it would have been impossible to protect them all or especially control. They would have only made things worse."

"Enough!" Gediminas snapped raising his tone. I had never heard him speak so angrily. "They are my family, so watch your words." Now everyone turned to him. It was the first time he had actually called us _his_ family. "_And_ your thoughts." His words sounded like a hiss, his eyes were threatening, and his whole posture was tense. Protectiveness was definitely his characteristic.

Speaking about family not all of us were here. Esme shifted restlessly by Carlisle. My entire family wanted to see Alice and Jasper as soon as possible.

"What did happen to Jasper?" My son relaxed and glanced between us. He obviously knew there was something wrong but how to tell him that his uncle was never going to be able to move again. I looked at my parents seeking their help.

Gediminas' eyes darted from one of us to another for a little longer till I assumed the explanations were over. Adrian didn't like to be left out thus she frowned and pressed her lips impatiently looking at her brother.

"Alexander?" My son turned for the boy expectantly. Was he supposed to know something?

"Yeah?" The boy turned questioningly. A moment later he nodded, murmured "sure" and looked at my daughter. "Will you show me the way?" He whispered into her ear. I clearly didn't like that.

She bit her lip hesitantly. "It's not my home to invite you in..." she trailed off. How could she say that? She was a part of our family and she knew that!

"Would you join us?" Carlisle looked at Jason expectantly.

"I would certainly love to, but my shift starts in less than an hour." The man glanced at his watch; his eyes darted around. "Besides, seeing that most of these kids came alone, I am sure they never mentioned to their parents where they were going, so we still have to bring them home."

"We would love to help by driving them home. It's the least that we can do." My father was genuinely interested in speaking to the man in front of him. "If you live nearby, maybe we could meet again sometime to talk."

"Drive?" Jason looked incredulous and amused hardly containing his laughter. "They need to get home not only today but preferably in the next few hours... But meeting again is definitely a good idea. And..." Jason trailed off smiling at some private joke. "close is a relative term." He offered his hand. "I am glad Adrian and Gediminas have such a good family and they won't be alone anymore. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"I am glad I finally met my grandchildren's friends." Carlisle shook his hand.

The young man slightly turned to face the closest group of kids. "We are only the top of an iceberg." He murmured to no one particularly. "So." He clapped his hands loudly getting the attention of everybody's around. "Who wants a lift home?"

"Wait guys!" Adrian shouted to her friends. "Clean this mess first." She waved her hand towards the deep gash in the ground. I suppose I should have expected what happened next, nevertheless I didn't like it. The field started shaking again; luckily this time only for a few moments and then the gap was closed as if it had never been there in the first place.

"I want to introduce you to someone." She grabbed Alexander's hand and dragged him to me. I guess this was the moment for me to say something. I just couldn't put the right words together. It seemed that every time I opened my mouth, we fell apart. "Edward. This is Alexander. He is my..." She trailed off and blushed. He chuckled at her uneasiness while she rolled her eyes at him. "We are close." She finished with a smile. I suppose Jason had been correct, for 'close' was definitely a relative term in this situation. I forced a smile which most likely looked like a grin and slightly nodded my head. She turned to him. "Alexander, this is Edward." His eyes were shining with amusement. He somehow obviously knew me, and there was no way I would forget him. "He is my father." That I did not expect, especially after our last conversation. This was the first time she had called me her father and not only aloud but also in her mind. I must have frozen for quite some time because when I finally noticed the boy's hand stretched out to me, everybody else was watching us. I shook his hand briefly and my daughter gleamed with joy. Was this little enough to make her happy or was this really so important for her?

There was a strong gust of wind and most of the kids disappeared into thin air. Now only my family and our friends as well as my children with Alexander and two more boys were left. The rest was gone.

"Where did they go?" Esme and the rest of us looked at my son.

"Home." He answered simply with a relaxed smile. "Where _we_ should also be headed." I hoped he meant our house.

Our guests took this as their cue to leave. None of them seemed to be eager to see Jasper again, for only looking at him pained us all.

My mother took Gediminas' hand, and he gently smiled at her. I guess her dilemma about where she wanted them was over and her unconditional love could warm anybody's heart. They turned and left the clearing for our house.

Adrian hesitated for a moment and looked at me. I nodded my head for her to go and she half dragged half guided Alexander out of the field. Her friends followed them. I glanced around. I had been so sure that this clearing will become my death, but the irony of life is that in the end my defenseless, weak and fragile children saved us all. We were safe and the only thing I could wish for was to live with my kids, and Jasper to be okay again.

We were half way to our house when Alexander considerably slowed down. Gediminas turned to him and frowned in question.

"Jasner?" My daughter's friend glanced at my son expectantly. Again with that name! Why was everyone calling him like that? Where did it come from? Was it some kind of a nick name? The unknown frustrated me!

"Oh, sure." Gediminas murmured and a moment later we were walking again. What had just transpired here?

When the house came into our view, my children and their few friends slowed down letting my family pass. I glanced back at my daughter and son. They were right behind us, but their steps were slower and more hesitant. Gediminas was tense and frowning as if fighting a wave of pain. Only now I figured that Jasper's agony must be getting to him, but then why wasn't I feeling anything?

My son stopped and turned his head to his left as if somebody was calling him. But nobody was there. He looked back at his sister and whispered "I'll be right back." Adrian shrugged and carried on walking with the others. I watched my boy turn and stride away from us into the forest. Where was he going?

Gediminas halted and tilted his head sideways to me. "Go ahead. I won't take long." He murmured and disappeared behind the trees. What was he doing?

"Edward?" Carlisle called me, and I went back to my family.

When I came into our house, Esme was squeezing Alice in her hands. My both siblings were just the way we had left them. Adrian and her friends stood hardly through the doors, my daughter and Alexander in front of the other two. I stepped near one of the armchairs.

Forgetting everything, my favorite sister rushed to my daughter and enveloped her in a crushing hug. "I am so glad you are back." My girl hugged her back and smiled.

"And how did you two survive?" Rosalie's surprised eyes were glancing between her sister and Jasper.

"Why?" Alice stepped back and turned to our astonished faces. "Well, I couldn't see us for some time... Actually right till the moment when you came back. But we didn't see anybody else since you all left." She was frowning.

"Looks like the youngsters are becoming really good." A boy nearest to the doors smiled. Who was he talking about?

"Yes, looks like." Adrian was shining and completely at ease. I couldn't remember even once before when she was so happy with us.

Gediminas burst through the doors and stood behind a cough where Jasper was lying. "Are you ready?" My son looked at Alexander.

"As ready as I will ever be..." The boy nervously shrugged watching my brother. What were they talking about? I was grateful that I didn't have to wince at Jasper's agony in my head, but I didn't like to be left out.

"What are you doing?" Alice stepped away from Adrian. My sister's eyes were alarmed.

Alexander knelt by my brother's side and looked him over. "This will take a LOT of time." He glanced at my son who just nodded.

"Hey! Not everybody in here is a mind reader." Emmett exclaimed and for once I was grateful to him for his perfect timing. I didn't think they would have answered to me.

Alexander locked his eyes with Jasper's. "You will feel hot. And if you want to quit, just give me a some sort of sign or say it in your mind and Gediminas will hear it."

"Are you a healer?" Carlisle asked standing with Esme a few feet away from Jasper's head.

"Um... Sort of." The young boy was glancing over my brother but finally looked at my father. He took a breath. I hoped he was going to explain this at some point. "I cannot actually _heal_." He turned his eyes back to Jasper. "Your natural ability to recover is completely shut down because of the attack. I can restart it, and it would take only moments..." He paused clearly holding back something.

"But?" Alice never was patient.

The boy looked straight at my sister's eyes. "But it wouldn't be enough." He turned back to Jasper. "Your body would take itself as it is at this moment. Any additional wounds would be healed at once... but not this." He looked over my brother's body with wide eyes.

"So you cannot help him?" My father was starting to see this as a scientist.

"Not exactly." Alexander sighed. "I am just not used to this." He turned to Calisle. "Usually if somebody has so many injuries, they don't survive." His eyes glided back to Jasper's body. "I will have to concentrate your natural ability to regenerate over each fracture separately."

"But there are over a hundred of them. " Rosalie just couldn't stay out of this conversation. "Then how long will this take?"

"Does it matter?" The boy looked at her in surprise. "Hours. Through entire day and night most likely." He shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. For a living being one fracture heals in almost half an hour. For the dead it takes about seven to eight minutes." Alexander murmured under his breath. "Who wants to do the math?" He looked us over and got back to Jasper. "You ready?"

"Just do it." Gediminas murmured.

"Alright." Alexander took a deep breath. "Lift the shield." He put his hands on Jasper's ribs.

The shield? Will I get my hearing back? I couldn't wait to get a glimpse at this Alexander's mind.

My son turned his hard eyes at me. "Trust me. You don't want it." He redirected them back at his friend.

Everybody fell quiet. A moment later I could feel heat radiating from Alexander's hands into my brother's body. The warmth was so great that it seemed like the hand was on fire. Jasper would wince every now and then. Alice wanted to leap to his side, but surprisingly Adrian was holding her hand.

Minutes or maybe hours later the boy finally moved his palms away from my brother's ribs, and Jasper dared to take a first breath in such a long time. Surprisingly he didn't wince and even forced a tiny smile.

"I suppose it's not the best time to give questions?" Carlisle asked in a hushed tone glancing between the kids. Gediminas didn't react, so I could only wonder about my father's thoughts.

"Only if you want answers from him." Adrian replied nodding towards the object of her fascination. "Other than that, we have no problems in talking." She shrugged not letting her eyes wander away from the boy.

"Back in the clearing when your friends killed that man..." Carlisle trailed off looking at my son. It seemed like my father was searching for the right words. "You didn't look bothered by that in the least."

Gediminas glanced at him clearly not eager to give him an answer. "It was either one of them, or all of them. I had no wish of a bloodbath." He frowned in irritation. "Or all of us." He murmured under his breath. I had to admit the first option was the best one.

Uncomfortable silence fell around us. Alexander was the only one to move slowly gliding his hands over my brother's broken body.

"Have you ever killed before?" My father couldn't contain his curiosity and concern, and frankly neither could I. Though I wouldn't have been able to blame my children even if they had given us the worst answer. I wasn't completely innocent either.

"I am half a vampire feeding on animals." Gediminas stated matter-of-factly. That wasn't what Carlisle had meant... My son sighed tiredly as if he had been through such conversations numerous times. "Let's just say that we have never killed a human." Well that's good.

"I knew it, honey." Esme smiled reassuringly and my son gave her incredulous look.

"But humans and animals are not the only creatures on this earth." Rosalie frowned. I had to admit she had a point.

At that moment one of the boys' cell phones vibrated. All kids apart from Alexander glanced at him questioningly. The boy took out his gadget and looked at the screen. It was a message and the sender's id was probably written on the display, but it was still strange that he didn't open it to read it. My eyes glided to my son who was slightly shaking his head in a desperate no. What was wrong?

"Who's it from?" Adrian turned to her friend.

"Sharen." The boy muttered looking at Gediminas.

"But..." My daughter looked surprised until realization about something slowly dawned in her eyes. "Oh, come on! Only once in over twenty times!" She cried out loudly, her voice was full of pain.

"Who is this Sharen?" Rosalie obviously didn't like not knowing the kids' friends. "And what's wrong if she merely sent a message?"

The only boy who had remained silent till now squirmed uncomfortably glancing between Adrian and Gediminas as if wondering who was going to answer my sister's question. Finally he sighed. "To avoid various misunderstandings and floods of unnecessary messages or calls we have long come to an agreement that after every fight, if there are casualties on our side, the oldest kid from the attacked family sends out a message to the others with the names of our friends who left and are no longer with us. In this case, yesterday Sharen was not the oldest in her family..."

"Why a message with only names?" Carlisle wanted to know everything about this apparently sore subject for his grandchildren.

"Because we have to keep up the show of innocence in front of other people such as Charlie. Anybody for that matter who can stumble upon our mobile phones." Gediminas' voice was hollow and his eyes distant. I didn't even want to imagine what was going on in his mind. "If they saw names, it would mean nothing for them, but such words like 'death' or any other form of it are sure to bring up unwanted question that would be hard if not impossible to answer."

"Are you coming?" The second boy locked his eyes with my son's.

The latter shook his head with painful gaze. "I couldn't look into her parents' eyes last time. And now Mathew..." He paused still shaking his head. "I just can't."

"It wasn't your fault." Esme tried soothing him, but his lips turned into a tortured grin.

"The day before yesterday they called us and asked for our help. But we chose to come here and be with you." Adrian whispered in tear strained voice.

"You regret saving our lives instead of meeting with your friends?" My own voice was laced with incredulity and anger. How could she choose some kids over her true family?!

"Adrian, you are not helping." Alexander murmured tensed trying not to loose his concentration on Jasper who was now constantly wincing from overwhelming emotions.

She sighed with regret and grief written all over her face. "I'll wait outside." She whispered and disappeared through the doors.

I glanced around the room. My parents were watching Jasper, who was getting hotter with every moment, and Alice kneeling by his side. Rosalie was openly glaring at me and for once I was grateful I couldn't read her thoughts. Emmett was soothingly rubbing her back. My children's friends were watching my son trying to read something I had no idea about.

The last one was Alexander. His whole posture was screaming how tired he was but also determined to finish this. A few moments later his shoulders slumped and he sighed looking at my broken brother. "I'm not finished, but you need to cool down." He took a breath sucking air in his lungs as if he was too exhausted even to breathe. "I'll be back in a few minutes. If you think you are ready to continue sooner, tell Gediminas." He slowly got up and for some reason glanced at me. "Could I have a word with you, please?" I didn't need to read his mind to know that his friendly tone was anything but. This was sure to be interesting. I always thought that it was the father who gives this kind of talk to his daughter's boyfriend and not the other way around.

The boy walked into our kitchen and I followed him. He slumped on a chair blinking frantically just to keep his eyes open.

"I won't tolerate you bossing me around my own home." I was the adult here and I needed to make this clear from the very beginning.

"Do you really think I care about that?" He turned to me. "Never mind." He muttered under his breath. "I need to talk to you. Or actually... tell you a lot of things. And then it will be your choice. Just remember that we will always be watching." He pressed his lips and got up facing me. Was I supposed to take this as a threat?

We spent another few minutes scrutinizing each other.

"You do realize that Adrian just lost a friend for good because she decided to come and help you?" He frowned at me. "She and Gediminas made a decision and now they will have to pay the price."

"It's not my fault!" How could he accuse me of such thing?

"You don't understand! It's nobody's fault." He shook his head in what looked like disappointment. "We have been around for over a decade. We gave each other the best we had what the other needed. They were looking for friendship and understanding, and we gave it to them. They needed advice and love, strength and teaching, a simple quiet condolence when things went wrong. And that's what our families, especially our parents, gave them." He took a breath to carry on. "We needed help in fighting and true friends. And God knows Adrian and Gediminas gave all they had!" I didn't think I wanted to hear this part. "And Yes! They have killed before today. Because that's what 'we protect what's ours' means in our world! It's just now it is also your children's world. Welcome to reality. Deal with it or you will only hurt them." He glanced towards the living room. I could hardly hear my son's muffled breathing. Everybody was listening to us.

"Why do you care, if I hurt my children?" Didn't he want for my daughter to leave us and come with him? Didn't he want her to be with him?

"I see Gediminas as my brother, and I love Adrian. I would do everything for her to be happy." He slightly rolled his eyes. "And if her happiness involves being with you then so be it."

"Aren't you afraid that if you let her be with us, in the end she will choose to spend her life with her family?" After all, this was Carlisle's next on to-do list.

"Sorry to bring this onto you, but if you make your children choose between us and you, I am afraid you will get an unpleasant surprise." His eyes shone with amusement as if what I had said was completely ridiculous. "You do understand that we have been around for over a decade while you were nowhere to be seen? You are merely more than absolute strangers to them."

"We are their family!" I couldn't stop myself from hissing at this insulting brat.

He nodded. "Then as a family you must know a lot about them." He paused. "What do you know? That Adrian can't stand riding a car and Gediminas has barely survived a yacht accident?" Well, come to think of it, these were the only details we had been given, and even they didn't come easily. But we hadn't been together for long. "These are the safe stories they are willing to give to anybody who gets close to them. I wouldn't be surprised if their entire school knew about this." He glanced in my son's direction. "On the other hand, I would." He turned back to me. "It's difficult for them to start trusting someone new."

"And yet at some point they started trusting you." If he with his irritating character could gain their trust, I definitely could.

"That's another story and it's theirs to tell you. We had no prehistory unlike you." Where was he going with this? We never knew each other before this school-year. "Even before they met you, they spent years learning about your family and especially you from their mom's memories. And because she spent most of her time pondering on her last remembrances of you, it's not so difficult to understand why Adrian can hardly stand being together with happy families. You all will have a lot of convincing to do. But if you win Gediminas over, he should be able to help you considerably." He paused. "Just don't mess it up." Where did he get the courage to talk to me like that? "We will be watching. If you slip even once, you won't like the consequences. And they WILL be irreversible." He walked to my side. What was he going to do now? "Don't hurt them." He whispered and slowly walked past me back to the room.

"There is one more thing I need you to do." He stopped. "There's a place where I need you to take Adrian." He slowly turned to me.

"I will take her wherever she wants." He had no right to tell me what to do with my children.

"That's the point. She doesn't want to go there. But she has to." He eyed me deliberately. "It's almost six months since their mother passed away. They have never been to the cemetery since her funerals. We take care after her grave, that's not the point. The important part is that they have to let her go, and the only place where they can do that is there." He paused as if undecided whether to tell me the next thing on his mind. "I could do this, but it could help to bring you all closer to each other." He murmured and turned away.

"Leave her." slipped through my lips. He stopped walking. Good, I had his attention. "You are mortal. In one way or another someday you will have to leave her, so why not do it now while you are still at the very beginning. Trust me, it would be much easier."

"Would it?" He turned back to me chuckling. "I am not going to leave her. Ever. Unless she asks me, and even then I will stay in her shadow like a guardian." This sounded so alike to what I had said all those years ago. "If you haven't noticed, I am not a mere mortal. I have a choice whether to age or not. And this leaves me an eternity to be with her." He paused to lock his eyes with mine. "I love your daughter and nothing will ever change that. I _will_ fight for what is mine."

"You are still very young. In a few years you will meet someone you will like even more and then you'll leave Adrian hurting and broken." He was just a boy and a crush could be gone as easily as it had come.

"I am not that young." Alexander sheepishly looked away with a tiny smile playing around his lips. What was this supposed to mean? "I chose this..." he motioned to his body, "to stop aging so that I could get into hospitals and near the injured ones easily. When I am not thinking about Adrian, and because that's what I am doing most of the time, sometimes even while doing that, I spend most of my free time helping my father. He is also a what-your-father-called healer though not as strong as me." For once his smile looking at me was honest. I had to admit that I liked this side of him. And he would surely find something in common with Carlisle.

There was one more thing I wanted to know. "What would you do if something wrong happened to my daughter?"

"If? You have no idea how likely this possibility is." He took a breath to collect his thoughts and put them in order. "Adrian and I have talked about this." He paused again watching me. "If one of us is hurt, the other one would stay by the one's side. And if one of us doesn't survive, then the other one would live on." I could see pain in his eyes. Looks like he had given this a lot of thought, maybe even too much. "In case everything turns out to be a huge misunderstanding like it was with you and her mom, we would be together again even if it takes eternity for us to find each other. But if it is not a misunderstanding..." He painfully trailed off. "then I will carry on healing the others, saving and preserving life. And she will live on if not for herself then for Gediminas because he can be his worst enemy when somebody hurts his sister." His gaze turned distant before coming back to reality. "But let's not think about this." He forced a smile and turned back to the room. "Shall we?" He asked in a friendly voice.

We both returned to the living room, allies in whatever came next.

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Thank you for reading! Tell me what you think, and what you liked or didn't like.**

**If I get lost in my exams and have no time to write the epilogue before the big celebrations, have a nice Christmas!**


	40. Happily ever after?

**Hello again and for the last time in this story.**

**Thank you very much to all of you for bearing with me throughout this entire story and especially to those who reviewed. You are amazing, and it means a lot to me. After all this story is my first attempt at writing, ever.**

**Enjoy the last chapter!**

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Edward's POV**

After Alexander finished healing Jasper, the boy could hardly stand on his feet from exhaustion. He kissed my daughter's hand for goodbye and left with his friends. The little token seemed so meaningful to my little girl. But I couldn't be more glad that he finally left. Now I had all that I could have ever wanted except for the love of my life, but for that I could blame only myself. On the bright note, I had my family, my children with me, and everyone was alright.

It was still before dawn when we were left alone without those know-all kids. The moment Jasper got off the couch, Alice was in his hands fiercely hugging each other. I was happy for them. Glancing around I saw my parents and siblings smiling; Gediminas was standing slightly further away than before with a satisfied and relieved expression on his face, and Adrian was leaning into the wall relaxed and also happy, but there was a shade of pain in her eyes.

Jasper finally lifted his head and turned to Carlisle. They both nodded to each other, expressing and excepting gratitude. Then my brother glanced between my children with relief and appreciation written all over his face. Adrian blushed and dropped her eyes while Gediminas forced a smile and mouthed 'go'. My brother nodded and was out the doors with Alice in a blink of an eye.

"What was that about?" Emmett looked their way. My son only slightly shrugged. "He is not a threat to you, is he?" My brother chose this moment to become protective over his niece and nephew. Though it was a little strange to see Jasper asking for my son's permission to go hunting rather than our father's.

"He is not a threat. But it's uncomfortable for him." Gediminas turned his gaze towards his sister.

"Ow." Emmett always had a rich vocabulary... "Well, yeah. I guess I can understand him; he hasn't hunted for almost a month."

My son slowly walked over to Adrian and gently put his arm over her shoulders. She leaned into him with a tiny content smile. They needed no words, but their interaction was so warm and full of siblings' love as well as reassurance.

"Breathe." Gediminas whispered into Adrian's ear with a smile. She playfully rolled her eyes at him but took a deep breath tiredly closing her eyes.

Me and my family stood there watching my children. They seemed so weak and fragile, but we had seen better than to believe that.

Less than an hour later Alice and Jasper rushed in with their smiles. Their eyes were golden; looks like the closest local populations of various small herbivores had significantly diminished.

Jasper slowly but deliberately came to stand in front of Adrian. Gediminas smiled and took his hand off his sister's shoulders making a tiny step backwards. My brother glanced at him and received a slight nod. My daughter slowly opened her eyes blinking to wake herself up, and Jasper carefully enveloped her in a hug. She blushed crimson but hugged him back. It was nice to see them getting close, but I would have loved to be in his place. After a few moments Jasper dropped one of his hands from around my daughter and slightly moved backwards never completely letting her go. Now they were both facing my son. My brother extended his hand to the boy to shake it. Gediminas raised his eyebrows in surprise looking straight into Jasper's eyes, and then dropped his gaze to the hand in front of him frowning and tilting his head sideways. There was no movement for a few agonizingly long minutes. Adrian and all of our looks were fixed on her brother who appeared to be thinking and thinking hard. Finally he took Jasper's hand and firmly shook it once before letting it go.

Was a simple handshake so much for my children? Back in the clearing, Adrian practically started glowing when I and Alexander briefly shook our hands. And now my son had to think so much before taking his uncle's hand... How could a simple gesture that humans used everyday mean so much to nowadays kids? There were too many questions...

Rosalie and Emmett took their seats on a loveseat on the right whereas our parents sat on the closest end of the couch. Alice dragged Jasper to sit in the middle, and he took Adrian with him. Gediminas contently took his place on one of the armchairs, and I was left to sit alone on the other one on my son's left.

For some time my parents, Rosalie and Emmett, and Alice watched Gediminas; Jasper was looking at my daughter with his eyes full of adoration while she was simply smiling.

Suddenly Adrian put her head on my brother's chest and tiredly sighed barely keeping her eyes open.

Gediminas arched his eyebrows in question, and a little amused smile appeared on his face. She blushed again but only snuggled into my brother. My son quietly chuckled while Jasper slowly and carefully put his hand around her shoulders. To make us all smile, my daughter only snuggled further into my brother's side.

Five minutes later her breathing evened out, and she was obviously asleep.

"I'll take her to my room." I whispered ready to get up.

"Our bed is more comfortable." Rosalie quietly argued with me looking at my daughter.

While we were talking, Jasper gently picked Adrian up bridal style in his hands and carried her upstairs to his and Alice's room.

I glanced questioningly at my son. Was he okay with my brother acting like that?

He only slightly shrugged. "As long as she gets some sleep." His eyes were lovingly watching the ceiling above which his sister was sleeping.

After putting a blanket around Adrian and making sure she was soundly and comfortably asleep, Jasper joined us back downstairs.

We sat in silence for a few minutes; I and my family watching my son, and his eyes gliding between us probably in response to our thoughts.

"I am not going to answer any of your questions unless you voice them." Gediminas' gaze stopped at Carlisle. All the minds were still shielded from me, so I could only make a guess at what my father had been thinking about.

Questions. I had so many of them. There was over a decade of their lives that I had almost no idea about, and I wanted to know everything. But where to start?

"How did you meet Alexander?" Rosalie asked curiously and leaned forward. She had been burning with curiosity to know everything about her niece and nephew. We all glanced at my son questioningly. The subject of my daughter's fascination had mentioned that it was not only a long story but also a one to be told by my children.

Gediminas' face lit up in amusement looking at his aunt. He was smiling for a few moments when slow realization dawned in his face, and his features suddenly clouded glancing at my father. "We _met _him like most of the others; we were staying on the outskirts of a little town not far from the Urals. There was a beautiful forest, and we found an abandoned lake. We spent a few days wandering around, and one day we met him, his brothers and some of his friends. That's all the story." He shrugged nonchalantly. But it was only too obvious that he wasn't telling us something...

"What are you leaving out?" Jasper inquired locking his eyes with my son's.

The boy took a slow breath. "You asked me how we _met _him_,_ so I am telling you everything..." He was a mind reader, so why would he need us to spell out every question and detail? He turned his head to me. "Because you don't want to _truly_ know some of those things that you are thinking about." They were my children! Of course I wanted to know everything about them. He chuckled without any mirth in his voice.

"You have a lot of other friends. Why did you get so close to Alexander?" Esme's voice was gentle and full of love.

My son's gaze became distant for some time before returning back to reality and answering the question. "Because he proved himself worth it; because he came when we needed him, and because he always had the most honorable intentions towards Adrian. They are both different from their surroundings, and they are both looking for their places under the sun. It's just that he has been looking for that a lot longer than her, and he is happy to spend the rest of the eternity by her side no matter what..."

"Like a guardian or a shadow if she no longer wants him." I finished his answer with the so well known line I had used before. My son smiled at me with a compassionate look in his eyes.

"It happened during a fight, didn't it?" Jasper brought us back to the question that my son had so skillfully avoided. I wondered how many times had the boy done that before?

Gediminas' face snapped to my brother's, and they locked their eyes again. Jasper was curious in a friendly way, but the latter was defensive and determined not to answer it loudly. A moment later the boy's look turned to Carlisle forgetting all friendliness and building his walls back up.

"I cannot help you if you don't tell me what is wrong..." My father started gently but never got a chance to finish his sentence.

"...with us?" My son's voice became rigid. "There is nothing _wrong _with us."

"Give me at least something." My father quietly pleaded. Gediminas took a breath. "A some sort of number..."

"Six." was all the answer he got from the boy. Was this supposed to explain something? A bare number without a single comment.

"You have killed only six humans, and you are making such a big fuss of that?" Emmett asked surprised. Well if the list of my son's murders was so short, not that it was too short or anything, but I could certainly live with that.

"Let's get one thing clear. And stop it for good." My son took a calming breath. "WE. HAVE. NEVER. KILLED. A HUMAN." The boy said slowly emphasizing each word separately. His voice was low and held no emotions but determination; had we pushed him too far? Was this one the question that drew a line between us?

I could understand Carlisle; as a father-figure of our family for over a century he wanted to make sure that there was no threat looming on the horizon, and he wanted to protect his grandchildren. Gediminas' reaction was defensive; thus, it automatically brought up questions and suspicions. I wanted for this to end; it was not a way for us to become closer as a family...

"The number?" Alice carefully asked biting her lip in nervousness the moment the words escaped her mouth.

My son took another breath. "It's the count of people who got close enough to me to actually hit me. Not that they did much harm, but it's the thought that matters." Esme's face turned scared, and I couldn't blame her. I didn't even want to think about the possibility of losing my son. Actually the mere idea that somebody could want to hurt my son was agonizing for me.

"Your sister's?" Rosalie carefully asked pleading with her eyes for... probably a zero.

"Don't worry." My son's expression turned to an amused one. "Her statistics are a lot better than mine." He grinned, but his smile never reached his eyes; it looked like he was assessing or evaluating us. As if trying to decide how much he could trust us. His gaze suddenly turned to me; he was searching for something, and I had no idea what. I never learned whether he found whatever he was looking for or not.

A few agonizingly long minutes later it seemed that Gediminas finally reached his decision. His look became hard and determined. He took a long steadying breath and turned to my father. Why did I get a feeling that this was not going to end well... "Let's make a deal." His voice was void of any emotions.

"A deal?" Emmett loudly exclaimed surprised. We all looked at the boy incredibly. We were a family. How could he even put that word in the same sentence as us? I started wondering if he even knew what a true family was...

"Consider this as a business deal." My son's words pierced my heart. We were not businesspeople; we were a family! Was the little question from Carlisle so difficult to handle? Did he truly wanted us naught in his life..?

"What do you mean?" Esme sounded hurt. Jasper might not had been the most loyal of all of us at his very beginning but even he had never said anything so cold and unfeeling...

Gediminas turned to Rosalie. "Adrian needs a friend with whom she could go out, do shopping, have a great time and relax."

"Of course." my beautiful sister hastily chirped in fiercely nodding.

He turned to Esme. "She needs someone to whom she could come when she is down and simply be close without being bombarded with questions. She needs somebody who would let her cry by one's side when she feels like that without being interrogated. She needs support even if most of the time a silent hug is enough." My mother nodded surprised and not truly understanding the request; she didn't need to be asked to do such natural things.

My son turned to me. I waited not knowing what to expect. "My sister needs someone who would give her strong and good arguments for what she is doing to reassure her when she is right, and against her when she is wrong. I cannot be at her side all the time, and she might not wish to talk to me about everything, so she needs somebody who could be a parent." I nodded surprised that he was even asking this. I was Adrian's father, and I would do everything to be one as long as I exist.

Gediminas turned to Jasper. "I cannot fully understand her abilities, so she needs someone who could help her with that."

"My power is not nearly as strong as hers..." My brother sounded careful and regretful. He seemed to be the only one who would not be able to do what he was asked. Though I was certain he would do his best anyway.

"But it is the closest one." My son leaned back for a moment and motioned to all of us around never leaving my brother with his eyes. "She needs someone with whom she could talk about what and how she feels. She needs someone else than me upon whom she could rely." He was unmovable.

Jasper silently nodded though he didn't seem to be sure of his usefulness.

Gediminas turned to Alice, and she uncomfortably shifted at her lover's side. "Adrian needs someone who would help her get lost in _this_ life, be her friend and put her back together when she is falling apart. She needs someone who would drag her into _this_ everyday life without giving her enough time to ponder on the past." All the time his voice was businesslike, hard and cold.

"I would love to." My tiny sister enthusiastically nodded and leaned forward.

My son turned to Emmett but instead of looking at him, he dropped his gaze down to the floor. His eyes became distant as if he was thinking about what else he had forgotten or how to phrase whatever he wanted to say. He took a deep breath and heavily sighed. "Adrian needs peace and quiet. She needs someone who would protect her from the humans when she is here in Forks." He raised his eyes to lock them with my brother's.

"Are you leaving?" Emmett raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I mean, _you_ can give all of this to her."

Fear crossed my mind. I couldn't let my son leave now that we were finally talking, even if this particular conversation had gone steeply down since the beginning.

"I am her brother. She needs someone else she could trust. Besides, I can't be at her side all the time." my son shrugged. I let out a breath of relief. At least he wasn't leaving...

"Then sure." My huge brother shrugged back. I was certain he would have done as asked even if my son was actually leaving.

Gediminas finally turned to Carlisle. These two had surely started off on the wrong foot, but all I could do was hope that they would eventually get along better than this. I wondered what my son was going to ask from my father. Guidance most likely.

The boy leaned forward again putting his elbows on his knees. "In return..." wait! Was there nothing he wanted from my father? The man was certainly the one who could give them the most. His experience for start. "...we offer you our gratitude, our friendliness, Adrian's love and our protection for as long as we live." He paused looking straight into my father's eyes. "I understand that it is very little comparing to what I am asking from you. But this is only for a year and a half minus about a month during this summer when Adrian is going to be with Alexander. After that if you want, you can forget about us. Considering your lifespans, it is going to be no more than a brief drudgery assuring to yourselves our and our friends' protection for as long as we live."

"But I want you to be my family for more than a year and a half!" I couldn't let them disappear after such a short time or ever at all. They were my children and I loved them. I wanted them to be with me all the time. We had never been very close, but I could no longer imagine my life without them.

My son looked at me with finally warm eyes. A tiny smile graced his face. "A year and a half is what I'm asking from you. Anything else will be your personal decisions." He turned back to my father and his eyes became hard again. I couldn't lose him.

"Why a year and a half?" Jasper asked curiously. This was indeed an unusual time frame.

"Because after we graduate from high school, we will leave this town for good rarely returning to visit Charlie. Adrian and Alexander will go to study in some university, and I will probably do the same." My son's eyes never left my father's ones.

"We would love to go with you. We haven't been to university for decades." Rosalie gently chirped in. I felt grateful to her; maybe in this way we could persuade them to stay with us.

"That will be completely your choice." Gediminas tried sounding nonchalant, but I could sense that he liked the idea of having us around all the time. Maybe we still had some hope as a family.

Esme took Carlisle's hand in hers like getting ready for something difficult. "You never said what you want for yourself." Her voice was quiet and gentle.

A tiny grateful smile found its way on my son's face though it did not reach his eyes. "Thank you. I can take care after myself. All I need is Adrian feeling happy, loved and safe even when she is anything but."

"Don't you think that she will notice if something is off?" Finally my father spoke, but definitely not the words I wanted to hear.

"My sister is very good at lying. I am sure she will manage to deceive herself when she wants that. And it will make our final departure from here so much easier." Gediminas was back to business... Why was he making this so complicated?! We could be a family like so many others. "Deal?" He offered his hand to Carlisle to shake it, and thankfully at least my father took it. I definitely needed to talk to both of them!

We sat in silence for I had no idea how long. My daughter was soundly asleep upstairs; my son was sitting on the edge of an armchair seemingly completely lost in his thoughts. Suddenly he got up and turned to the doors to leave.

"Where are you going?" I couldn't let him leave! Now that he had this _deal_ he might never return!

He slightly smiled stopping half way through the doors. "I will be outside on the porch." He whispered and left. Why did he feel necessary to go out from the house?

"Why do you have to push them all the time?" I turned my glare to Carlisle. He had no right to go so hard on my children! "They are not the only ones who had killed before coming to this family and even after that!"

"But unlike your brother or anyone else in in this family, they are not willing to change their lifestyles. They seem to be completely fine with having killed that man in the clearing." My father's tone was not the friendliest one.

"They were protecting us!" If I was right, my children and their friends had more than one way to assure their own safety, and that slaughtering was only for our sake and to discourage the Volturi.

"As a father of this family, I am responsible to assure our safety. I cannot do that if they keep on fighting. It would be only a matter of time before they brought the war back with them to this family." His voice was hard and determined.

Maybe if I really tried, I could make myself see his point, but still. Gediminas and Adrian were my children and I was ready to accept them the way they were and not change them. I was ready to love them even if they decided to kill people every day of their lives. As a father all I could do was offer my advice and hope that they would decide to follow it. In any way I would always be at their side.

"And I am _their _father. They are my children, and I will love them no matter what. If I remember correctly, _you_ were the one who was determined to bring them into this family in any way possible." I hadn't talked to Carlisle so angrily in a very long time.

"But then I had no idea that they were killing innocent people everyday!" His voice became desperate. Well, he wasn't getting any compassion from me.

Rosalie got up and passing the couch behind its back stopped to pat our father on his shoulder. "Well, _daddy_, looks like you are alone in this one. But don't worry. We are patient." She finished with a smile and went to my son.

Carlisle frowned in confusion for a few moments. Esme left him to go to work on her new blueprints; she wanted to make some changes to this house so that her grandchildren would feel more comfortable. Her husband tiredly sighed understanding that excepting my children into this family was hardly his decision to make; we had already welcomed them in, and now he had no other choice but to agree with us.

I got up and went to the window to watch Rosalie and my son interact. Who would have thought that my cold and vain sister will warm up to somebody whom she barely knew and especially so quickly. But then again she had always wanted to have her own children. And now two kids were coming into this family; two children who had no mother but were obviously craving for one.

My son was sitting on the porch with his back to the handrails; his eyes were close and he seemed to be completely relaxed. Rosalie stood in front of him leaning against the other handrails.

"You didn't have to do this, you know." Rosalie began seriously. I could only hope that this won't ruin everything even further. "The deal."

"You might be right. But I can't afford Adrian getting hurt, and after shaking our hands with Carlisle I am fairly certain that he won't back away and will keep most of his questions away from my sister." Gediminas said easily with his eyes still closed.

"He isn't that bad... And if you look into it, it's not so difficult to find logic in his questions." My sister's voice was soft and gentle like talking to her own son.

"Our memory is as perfect as yours, so we can't forget anything. We can only choose not to remember certain things." He stopped for a few moments. "I have been having nightmares every single night since our first fight. Thus I know how destructive and exhaustive they can be. You have no idea how glad I am that Adrian has never given it a thought about what she has done out there. She remembers the friends that we have lost, but she never thinks about anything else, ever. We never talk about what happens while we are in the fields. It would destroy her." My son's voice was painful. I wanted to take away that sorrow from him. I was more than willing to feel the hurt myself as long as my kids had a happy and carefree childhood.

Even though we all could hear everything and Gediminas knew that, he seemed to be more at ease while having to look only at one of us rather than sitting in front of our entire family.

"Besides," he broke the silence and finally opened his eyes looking at my sister, "it's not like we have to kill every day." He took a deep breath and glanced over his aunt's shoulder, his gaze becoming distant for a few minutes only to come back to the reality, and locked his gaze with Rosalie. "In fact, it had been over a year since the last time. When mom got sick, our friends called us every few hours to ask not _if_ but _how_ they could help us. They are always a great support whenever we need them. I owe them a lot." I could only wish that one day our relationship would become so strong.

They spent the next few minutes looking at each other in silence. Finally my sister asked another troublesome question. "A year and a half, huh?"

Gediminas smiled obviously knowing that this little time was nowhere near enough for us. "That's what I am asking from you. Anything else is out of our hands." He fell silent for a few moments. "Actually, it might not even take this long..."

"What do you mean?" Rosalie cut him off. Her voice was alarmed. Eighteen months were not enough, and he wanted to shorten even this little?

"Adrian and Alexander may find some boarding school where they would both get scholarships, and then even Charlie wouldn't be able to say a word against it. They really do want to be together, and as long as she gets a proper education and is happy, Alexander will agree with everything." Gediminas briefly glanced at the house and with a smile turned his attention back to my sister. "She will wake up soon; her mind is going blank."

Rosalie bit her lower lip watching my son. "She will want to change her clothes... I will go find something." My sister murmured and came inside going straight upstairs to her closet.

Now it was my turn to talk to my son. Last time they were here, he gave me a question that I didn't answer at the time. 'Was I ready to be their father?' I might not have been certain at the time, but now it was painfully obvious that I could simply no longer live without them by my side. It was time for me to tell him that.

I was going to move to the doors when Jasper appeared in front of them. Come to think of it, he was probably the only person who could convince my children to stop fighting. After all he had the most experience. My brother seemed hesitant for a few minutes watching my son. Finally he opened the doors and walked outside. He took Rosalie's place, and I also slipped through the doors standing just by the entrance ready to back my brother up if he needed.

Gediminas sighed looking at Jasper. "It's not the same for us as it was for you." He answered some unspoken question; I could only guess it was Jasper's.

"You are still very young. You can leave all the fighting behind and create happy lives for yourselves." My brother seemed to be determined to talk this through now rather than leaving it for later.

"You weren't there for the last decade." Gediminas glanced between me and my brother. "Those people. The people we care about, and who care about us. They were there. Whenever we needed them. They are like a family to me. No! Even closer than that. Because in families we can't choose other members resulting in grudges, conflicts. And here we chose each other. They had so many opportunities to turn us down, but they never did. Do you honestly think that we call for help every time we have a some kind of tiny problem?!" Looks like the floodgates were open. I had never heard him talk so much and so passionately. "We all do what we can by ourselves, and only when there is no other option do we call our friends."

"There is life without fights." Jasper's voice was gentle but determined.

"Oh yeah." My son ironically muttered. "I've been living in one for a year. Honestly, it is much more cheerful back on the fields than the last year I had. I would gladly fight in hundreds of wars so as just not to have to live through another year like the last one."

"There are people who care about you here. If anything happens to you, our family will fall apart." He had to understand that now he was a part of us. Esme and Rosalie wouldn't survive if they could no longer see the children, and I would crave for death.

Gediminas turned to look at Jasper "Would you have been able to leave the wars if you would have had to fight only every now and then, and most importantly if the dearest people for you, your best friends whom you saw like a family and Alice the love of you life, were fighting and could not move away from that because they were defending themselves? Would you hav e been able to leave all of this? And after that would you have been able to live with yourself?"

Would I be able to run away from fights if my family could not? Would I risk the lives of the ones' I loved? Of course no! If I would have to stand in fire between the harm and my children, I would gladly do that and stay there for an eternity.

My son took a breath to continue speaking. "We would be leaving behind a lot more than you did. My friends are not going to last forever; they are mortals. In a few decades their parents will be gone, a few more centuries and most of them will be no longer. I am going to lose my friends any way, so I am not wasting my time and building regret in my heart because I would have to bear it for the rest of the eternity. And it's not like we are completely helpless; Adrian moves faster than a bullet, and I have shields to protect us both."

I was rendered of all arguments, and I could see that so was Jasper. Well, in any way they were my children, and I knew that I had no right to tell them to leave their friends. All I could do was be at their side at all times.

My boy turned his eyes to me for awhile; they were shining with gratitude. My lips stretched into a smile.

"We will always help you. Whatever you need. I may not be very good at fighting because I don't know your enemies, but I may be of some use in tactics." Jasper sounded hopeful. There was after all something he could definitely do for his niece and nephew.

My son smiled looking at his uncle. "Thank you. You have no idea how important this is to me."

We stood in silence for some time before Jasper walked to the doors. I stepped aside to let him in and he slipped past me. Now it was my turn to take my brother's place. I stood in front of my son; his eyes were once again closed.

"Alexander mentioned that the story how you got close was not for him but for you to tell us." Since I had already excepted my children into my heart might as well do this with the boy; he was the object of my daughter's greatest affection.

"Yes, he was right. I guess now is as good of a time as I will ever get with Adrian sleeping." This was an interesting start. Was there something about the boy that my little girl didn't know? "It happened during one of the first of our fights. Then I still didn't know that I could stretch my physical shield away from my body to protect the others. Adrian was supposed to block the attacks by making our enemies clumsy, and I was shielding our mind. The confrontation was almost over. But at the very end Adrian was too late to block one last blow. She had to chose whether to let one of our friends who was already seriously injured take the hit, or she had to do that herself. Naturally for my sister she took our friend's place. A moment later the guy was incapacitated, but not before he crushed Adrian's right shoulder to dust. I was kneeling at her side unable to do anything and unconsciously shielding her from everything around us. Somebody teleported Alexander there from his home; he had no idea we were supposed to fight that day. I remember his facial expression when he saw Adrian unconscious lying on the ground. He didn't look much better than me; his eyes were a pure look of horror. Then he came over and..."

"And what?" He was interrupted by his sister opening the doors and coming outside. When did she get here? "He did what?" She demanded boring her eyes into her brother's. Looks like I was not the only one who didn't know the story. After seeing how the kid healed all Jasper's bones, I did have a pretty good idea what he had done to my little girl. But why wouldn't he tell her? It showed how much he cared about her; on the other hand, maybe he didn't want her to feel like she owed him something.

"Uuh... Yeah... Ouch..." My son was out of words. He quietly stammer for a few minutes wincing probably as a reaction to his sister's thoughts. Suddenly he turned to her, "When did you learn to keep your mind blank and sneak up on me?" The best defense is offense; this was the first argument between my children that I ever got a chance to see.

"Years and years of practice." She pressed her lips tightly. "Now don't change the subject and answer the question."

"Um..." He sharply turned to me. "Don't you have to ask me something?" I had a lot of questions. "Something that Alexander mentioned at the very end." Gediminas sounded hopeful.

"Ow. Yeah. Sure." He was the only one who could show us the way. "Will you show us?"

"Of course. But our motorcycles are still in airport is Seattle." My son got up brushing some wrinkles away from his clothes.

"We can take our cars." We did have more than enough of those. My family came downstairs, and Jasper with Alice even slipped through the doors. The porch was becoming cramped.

"We..." Gediminas motioned with his finger between the two of us, "can." Was there something wrong?

I saw his eyes glide to his sister; her face screamed about absolute refusal. We had a problem. Though come to think of it... "Jasper?" I turned to my brother. He did have the the motorcycle I bought back in the days when my love wanted to ride it.

"Sure, I'll get it ready." My brother nodded and disappeared in our garage's direction.

"You will need a jacket." Alice handed a beautiful white jacket to my daughter, and the latter gratefully smiled and nodded her thanks.

A few minutes later we were all sitting in our vehicles and driving away. Adrian was riding at the very end; Gediminas, me, Alice and Jasper were riding my old silver Volvo; Emmett, Rosalie and my parents were riding my brother's jeep. Just before leaving Forks, we bought some red roses.

Even though we departed in the morning and arrived to Washington late in the afternoon, the ride was quiet. Strangely the silence wasn't awkward but rather full of reciprocal understanding.

When we arrived at a small old cemetery, it was getting dark. Adrian was walking by my side. I gently and slowly put my hand on her shoulders. I cannot express how glad I was when she did not flinch away from me. Gediminas led the way to the most beautiful sculpture I had ever seen. It was a masterpiece of a female angel made out of white stone that gleamed in the darkness. The figure's face had the same features as the love of my existence. There was a note on a small plate _'Isabella Swan. The warm heart that melted so much ice around her.'_

I stood speechless looking at the beautiful sculpture and remembering all the happy times I got to spend with Bella.

Some time later I felt Adrian silently sobbing by my side. Then maybe for the first time in my life I truly felt my son's mind; it was kind but strictly controlled without a single other thought than what he was telling me. _"Say it. Now is the time."_

Say what? How much I loved them? How I could no longer imagine my life without them? Or how I still couldn't believe that Bella was no longer in this world?

_"Mom will live on as long as we remember her. She will always be in our hearts, and in this way she will always be alive." _Gediminas' eyes glided to his sister at my side. _"She needs to hear it."_

The only thing I never did tell my children; the one thing I should have told them the moment I knew who they were. "I'm sorry. I am sorry for everything that I did wrong and that I am going to do. I am still learning. And especially I am sorry for everything that I did not do, but I should have: being at your side all the time, seeing you grow, showing your mother my unconditional love to her... I am sorry for everything." I tightly hugged my daughter and kissed her forehead.

Gediminas smiled looking at us and put the flowers at the sculpture's feet leaving two more flowers in his hands.

We stood in silence till my daughter whispered, "I love you. All of you." She said looking at the grave and then glancing at us. She squeezed her hands around me and a minute later let go shivering from cold and turning away to the exit. We all followed her out; each of us turning around to glance at the marvelous sculpture, that resembled my love, once more.

My son stopped by the tall tree near the exit. He knelt down and put the two roses at its roots. My daughter also stopped for a few minutes. Then they both got up and left. We followed them into the parking lot. When we were once again on the road, I dared to ask him about the two roses.

"We weren't able to attend our friend's funerals. This is the least we could do." He murmured gazing away behind the horizon.

We had a long road ahead of us. Not only to get back to Forks, but also to go as a family. Right now I felt more certain than ever that no matter what but in the end we will make it as a loving and caring family.

THE END

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Thank you for reading. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. This is my first story ever, so I want to know if I did at least something right.  
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**You didn't expect a completely happy ending, did you? I mean, the story hasn't been extremely cheerful so far...**

**Please, tell me what you think.** **And thank you for bearing with me for so long.**


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